Wish
by supremegreendragon
Summary: Jounouchi makes a wish. It comes true. He's now Kaiba's brother. But wait, that wasn't what he wanted at all. Worse yet, being Kaiba's brother has made his friends' lives terrible. Can he find a way to undo the spell? Or will an overprotective Kaiba stop him? Eventual puppyshipping.
1. Chapter 1

Jounouchi woke up to see a giant spider on his bed. He let out a high pitched scream, then smacked the spider until it was flying in the sky. Once it landed, the frightened arachnid scattered to safety within the crevice of the apartment walls. Soon it was out of sight.

That was when the alarm started to beep. The blonde cringed at his misfortune. Now was not the time to go spider hunting. He would have to get rid of the damn thing later, he decided.

After getting dressed, Jounouchi grabbed himself some toast for breakfast. His father softly snored in the other room his ass firmly planted in that same spot that Jounouchi had seen him in since his divorce years ago. Beer bottles littered the floor, causing the entire place to be a death trap. Jounouchi nearly tripped over them more times than he could count. It was only a matter of time before he would bust his head wide open.

Jounouchi rushed out the door with breakfast in one hand and his backpack in the other. He decided he would take a shortcut. It was a gamble, since he had never been this way before. Fuck his need to constantly press the snooze button.

A strange sight made Jounouchi pause. There was a single building in the alley that stood out from all the rest. Its stone walls were painted a bright red color and a sign had golden letters plastered above it. What was most curious was the vague title this place decided to call itself. Magic was all it said. No description on what this place did, what it sold, or why it was stationed in the middle of nowhere. The confused blonde took just a second to look through the window. It seemed like this place sold a bunch of stuff with cheap parlor tricks and things like that. Jounouchi wondered if they had any games.

A sorry looking scroll was on display. Ironically enough, it stood right in front of a beautiful seal that you would expect to see during the time of the emperors. But like the sign, there was hardly any information on what it was or what it was supposed to do. Jounouchi stared at it for a long while, trying to figure out what the purpose of such a scroll was.

The blonde snapped back to reality. Shit, he was still running late. What the fuck was he doing just hanging out here? He arrived to class just before the first bell rang. He had to stop himself from doing a little victory dance. On time once again. Nothing could outmatched Kastuya Jounouchi.

Jounouchi congratulated himself until lunch, where he stuffed his face with a rice. Honda ate just as quickly while the rest of the group watched. They stared in disguise while their two friends had their feeding frenzy.

"It's not a race," Anzu mumbled, her eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"She's right. You should slow down," Yugi chuckled. He clearly saw humor in this. Unlike the big sisterly Anzu.

Jounouchi didn't stop until he was all out of food. Then he decided to act like a normal human being. The blonde took out a napkin and wiped himself with it. You would've hardly guessed that he just ate like a pig half a second ago. The gang laughed outloud. Even Anzu cracked a smile.

Suddenly, Jounouchi felt a presence behind him. His good humor vanished. He had a bad feeling about this.

Jounouchi turned to look at Kaiba looming over him. Those icy blue eyes stared right through him, as if Kaiba was trying to read his mind. The billionaire continued to stare at him in silence until Jounouchi finally caved in.

"What do you want?" the confused blonde arched a brow. He felt his cheeks warming and prayed to God that he wasn't blushing. Something about having Kaiba stare at him sent his heart fluttering.

A smirk slowly formed its way onto Kaiba's lips. That wasn't a good sign. Jounouchi braced himself for the insult he knew was coming.

"I just came to get a better look at the animals. From how you were eating, I thought this was more of a zoo than a school."

Jounouchi shot out of his seat with his fist raised. It didn't matter how many times they bickered back and forward. The end result was always the same. Kaiba would always be smug and Jounouchi would always be ready to punch his lights out.

Yugi had already come up behind Jounouchi to stop his brash friend. He was used to Jounouchi being quick to anger. The small teen grabbed Jounouchi's shirt to keep him from attacking Kaiba in front of the entire school. Jounouchi continued to glare at Kaiba, and the billionaire grinned in amusement. No doubt it looked like Yugi was keeping his dog on a leash to him. This thought humiliated Jounouchi.

"What did ya say to me? You wanna start a fight?" Jounouchi growled. He didn't blame Yugi for trying to stop him. His friend didn't deserve his wrath. Besides, he would rather reserve all his anger for Kaiba. He couldn't wait to wring his neck.

"Please," Kaiba smirked, "How many times have you tried to use your fists against me? You fight as well as you duel, mutt."

"Don't call me a-"

"Kaiba. What do you want?" Yugi asked, effectively cutting Jounouchi off. The brunette studied the much smaller boy with an unreadable expression.

"I wanted to make sure you haven't chicken out yet. Are we still on?"

The rest of the group looked at Yugi in confusion. But the small teen didn't turn their direction. With a solemn look, Yugi nodded his head at the brunette.

"Yes, Kaiba. I promised you I would be there and I meant it. Now can you let us eat in peace, please? I don't want to make a scene."

Kaiba scoffed, "Then put that dog on a leash. He's the one making a fool of himself."

Jounouchi reacted before thinking. Yugi had no chance of holding him back now. Jounouchi ran out of his grip, his fist raised up high. He threw the hardest punch he could muster.

But Kaiba upperhanded him. Grabbing onto his arm, Kaiba threw Jounouchi onto the floor. This was usually the part where Jounouchi gave up.

But day after day this same thing happened. Kaiba would provoke Jounouchi, Jounouchi would retaliate, and then Kaiba would come out the victor. Frankly Jounouchi was sick of it.

To everyone's shock, Jounouchi recovered. Not even Kaiba had expected him to get up so quickly. Jounouchi surprised him by punching him square in the jaw. Jounouchi grinned, but his victory was short lived. Blue eyes turned to fire, then Kaiba's fist came barrelling twice as hard.

"Jounouchi!" Yugi cried.

The blonde landed hard on the stone cold floor, jaw first. He nearly bit his tongue his half from the impact.

"You goddamn-" but Kaiba was cut off by an angry voice.

"Jounouchi! Kaiba! Stop."

Mr. Suzuki, a teacher, rushed into the room when he heard the commotion. He looked at both fighters with a scowl.

"You boys both come with me."

Jounouchi spat out the blood from his mouth. He and Kaiba gave each other one last glare before following him out the door.

* * *

"Why does he get to leave but I have to stay?" Jounouchi demanded angrily. He looked out the window to see his rival walking freely to meet his little brother. Mokuba smiled when he approached Kaiba. He showed some kind of paper to him, and Kaiba smiled and rubbed his head.

Watching the two brothers almost made Jounouchi sour. Mokuba didn't realize how lucky he was. He was the only one that Kaiba ever treated with kindness.

"Mr. Kaiba has a company to run. You on the other hand, can serve detention here," Mr. Suzuki stated. He looked all high and mighty standing behind his podium like he ruled the world.

Jounouchi gritted his teeth, "But he started it!"

"Jounouchi. You are 16 years old. You need to start acting like it. And the longer you talk back to me, the longer your detention will be."

Frowning, Jounouchi sat down at his desk and sulked. He could've been hanging out with his friends right now if it hadn't been for that asshole.

What did Jounouchi do to make Kaiba hate him so much? Kaiba might hate Yugi too, but at least he respected Yugi as a duelist. Jounouchi didn't even get that much. All he got from Kaiba was scorn, hate and ridicule. Why did it have to be Kaiba of all people that Jounouchi decided to get a crush on?

No. The blonde didn't like him. What was he thinking? He hated Kaiba...right?

An hour later, Jounouchi was finally able to leave. He called up his best friend using his ten-year-old razor phone.

"Jounouchi-kun. Did they let you go?" Yugi asked. He sounded worried. Jounouchi smiled appreciatively. He might not have all the fancy things Kaiba had, but he had something Kaiba could never buy. True friends.

"Yeah. I just had to threaten Mr. Suzuki once and he let me go," he joked, "Hey, what were you guys talking about earlier? About you chickening out?"

Yugi paused. He suddenly sounded a little guilty, "Well...Kaiba challenged me agaain."

"I figured...But why didn't you tell us?" Jounouchi asked. It didn't seem very Yugi-like to keep things like this from him.

"Well, it's just that...Kaiba challenges me a lot. And I figured that...well, it didn't need to be mentioned. How's your mouth, by the way?"

Jounouchi rubbed his jaw. Yugi was hiding something. However, instead of calling him out on it, Jounouchi decided to let him change the subject. He figured the little guy would come clean when he was ready.

"It's not bleeding anymore. Guess that's something to be grateful about," Jounouchi let out a little sigh, "Still hurts like hell though. I wish I could sue that creep."

"But you threw the first punch."

"I know," Jounouchi grumbled. He inhaled sharply, "What the hell is his deal anyway? What did I do to him that makes him hate me so much?"

"I don't think he's a fan of any of us, Jounouchi-kun."

"Yeah. But it always seems like he has it out for me personally. Like he hates me more than he hates you. And you actually beat him at Duel Monsters, so he has more of a reason to hate you."

"Thanks, Jounouchi," Yugi said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying that I haven't done a damn thing to him. And he's always insulting me and calling me a dog. I mean, what the fuck? I wish...man. I don't know..."

There was a momentary pause on the phone. Jounouchi scolded himself. He realized that he had given away too much. Now Yugi knew that Jounouchi was more upset than usual, and he couldn't take his words back.

"What do you wish?" Yugi pressed.

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Jounouchi rubbed his temples. What he would do for a long soak in the bathtub right about now. All he wanted was to relax and forget this whole day ever happened.

Jounouchi spoke without thinking, "I wish the spirit was back. Then he could give Kaiba an ass whooping."

The silence was so tense that Jounouchi realized immediately that he had screwed up. He could practically hear Yugi stewing over the phone.

"I mean...uh...I'm sure you can take care of him without his help."

"...I miss him too, Jounouchi," Yugi sounded upset. Jounouchi cursed himself for reminding Yugi of his other half. It had taken Yugi a long time to get over Yami leaving to the afterlife, and since then the tri-haired teen had grown a little more reclusive. Yugi had only recently started acting like his old self again.

So mentioning Yami was quite possibly the worst thing Jounouchi done all week.

"Yugi, look..." he trailed off, uncertain of how to proceed.

"I gotta help Grandpa with something. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Yugi hung up before Jounouuchi could respond. The blonde kicked himself mentally. Now Yugi was upset with him. Fuck his life. This had been a terrible day all around.

Jounouchi took a moment to think What did he really wish? He thought back to all the times he had ever seen a shred of human decency in Kaiba. The only person Kaiba was ever kind to was Mokuba. And honestly, who could blame him? Jounouchi himself was guilty of having big brother bias. A sibling that you needed to protect was always the apple of your eye.

Still, he wished that Kaiba treated him with half as much kindness as he treated Mokuba. Despite all their fighting, Jounouchi really wanted to be Kaiba's friend.

And if he was being a hundred percent honest with himself, maybe Jounouchi had some other desires that he dared not to speak outloud. He could only imagine the slew of insults he would receive if people found out how he felt. They would call him gay, a gold digger, or a Kaiba fanboy. Would his friends look at him the same way if they found out? And worse, what would Kaiba say?

Jounouchi shuddered at the thought. No matter what, he could never let Kaiba find out. The heartless man would rip his ego to shreds. That was something Jounouchi could never, ever let him do.

The blonde sulked his way back home. What a rotten day. Kaiba embarrassed him, Yugi was mad at him, and his father was probably going to be in the same damn place when he got home, drunk off his ass and not getting a single bit of work done. And the old man wondered why Jounouchi avoided him.

Jounouchi happened across the magic store for the second time that day. Looking at it again made him pause and think. Now that he had some spare time, he could check out what this place was. Maybe if it turned out to be cool, he could tell his friends about it.

The boy decided to go inside. Goosebumps immediately crawled through his chest and his nose began to drip. He wrapped his arms around himself while shivering. Did this store have its A/C all the way on? It was like a freezer in here.

Jounouchi had the urge to go back when the lights above him suddenly flashed on. Confused, Jounouchi adjusted himself to the sights. Cauldrons, wands, and mysterious objects scattered around the room without any rhyme or reason. It looked more like a witch's closet than a store.

Jounouchi happened to remember that scroll, so he went to get a better look. There it was, the brittle paper and brilliant seal. Jounouchi noticed that nothing was tying the paper in place. He let curiousity get the better of him and unrolled it. To his disappointment, it was blank.

"Can I help you?" a dark voice murmured behind him.

Jounouchi cried out in shock. He turned around to see a woman dressed in a kimono, quite an odd choice considering a lot of her wares had European themes. She had a beaautiful face but a scary expression. It wasn't scary in the sense that she looked angry. As a matter of fact, she didn't look like she was feeling any sort of emotion. If she hadn't had spoken, Jounouchi would've assumed she was a statue. It was the blank stare that gave Jounouchi the creeps.

Her blue eyes continued to stare at him for a long time. She leaned her head in closer.

"Can I help you?" she asked again, still sounding emotionless.

Jounouchi gulped as his heart raced a million miles an hour. Where did this woman even come from? He was sure he hadn't seen her before.

The woman spread her lips in the softest of smiles. She reached behind Jounouchi and grabbed the paper and seal.

"If you write down your wish on this, it will come true. You can have as many wishes as you can fit on the paper."

Jounouchi trembled. He wanted to excuse himself and rush out of there, but neither his mouth nor his feet would work properly. The woman held out the paper for him to take. He was careful not to grip at it too hard for fear of destroying it.

He wasn't sure how much this thing was, but he had a feeling the woman was asking for a hefty price.

She pulled out a pen from the sleeve of her kimono.

"You may have one."

She gave it to Jounouchi, who only arched a brow.

"Um...thanks...but I don't need a pen."

"Not the pen," she answered with the upmost patience, "You may write down one wish. Any wish that you desire. Then you will see that my magic is true. I believe you'll want to come back and purchase it."

"And...if I don't?"

"That's a gamble I'm willing to risk."

Jounouchi found himself smiling. She might have creeped him out, but he appreciated her faith in him. She was going to let him scribble all over her ancient scroll just to prove a point.

Jounouchi didn't believe her magic, but he wanted an excuse to get out of there. He wrote out the first thing he could think of.

I wish that Kaiba would-

Would what? Burn in hell? Probably a little extreme, even for a fake wish.

Treat me better-

Jounouchi thought back to all the times Kaiba acted like a human being. He finished his wish with this.

Like he treats Mokuba.

Placing in the dot to complete his sentence, Jounouchi handed it back to the woman. She looked at it.

"Once I seal this wish, it will be in full effect."

"Um...thanks," Jounouchi said sheepishly. He took that opportunity to get the hell out of there. Only when he was out of the store did he allow himself to breath out a sigh of relief. That was the creepist situation he had ever been in.

Jounouchi dug his hands into his pocket and walked away. He didn't notice the woman sealing his wish with blood red ink.


	2. Chapter 2

The apartment complex was just the same as ever: old, worn and dirty. But it was home. Once he got to his front door, Jounouchi fished inside his pockets. He blinked when he didn't feel the familiar metal. Shouldn't his key be in here?

The confused blonde pulled out everything from his school jacket. He froze up when he saw what he pulled out. What was all this stuff? And how the hell did it end in his pocket? A smart phone? That sure as hell wasn't his. A golden key that he had no clue where it went to. Candy that he didn't remember buying. What the hell happened? Why was this stuff in his pocket?

Jounouchi took off his school uniform in order to inspect it. Did he somehow take someone else's by mistake? Maybe after he had gym? That was the only time he took it off.

But wait, that didn't make any sense either. Because Jounouchi clearly remembered calling Yugi on his own phone after he left school. Dumbfounded, Jounouchi tried in vain to process what was going on.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" a strong male voice asked. It belonged to a man in sunglasses and a nice suit.

Jounouchi wasn't fooled by the man's choice of clothes. He had seen this type of person many times before. It was obviously a body guard that worked for some rich snob.

Why was he asking Jounouchi that question? Shouldn't he be out beating people up for Pegasus or something?

"Not that it's any of your business," Jounouchi frowned, "But I'm just trying to get into my apartment."

"Sir?" the man approached closer. Too close. He was right inside Jounouchi's personal bubble. The blonde teen took a step back. To Jounouchi's horror, the man still came toward him. Jounouchi backed away as fast as he could, but the body guard was picking up speed.

"Hey. Stay back."

Of course, the body guard didn't listen. He held out a hand as if he expected Jounouchi to take it.

"Your brother will be very upset to hear you've been in this dump. Mark my words, I'll be the first to inform him. Now come with me. He'll be very upset when you don't arrive by dinner."

"Look, man. I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I'm not the guy you're looking for."

"Is that so?" the guard smiled. His amusement to Jounouchi's growing fear was worrying.

"I don't have a brother," Jounouchi insisted. Couldn't this guy realize that he was barking up the wrong tree?

The crazed guard continued to stalk him. Jounouchi realized that he wouldn't take no for an answer. This man was going to take him away by force if Jounouchi didn't cooperate.

Jounouchi turned to sprint in the other direction. The guard followed, just like he thought he would.

"Come back here!" the man shouted.

Jounouchi picked up speed. His thoughts ran a million miles an hour. His heart threatened to burst out his chest. What was he supposed to do now? How could he lose this fucker?

Yugi!

Yugi would shelter him until it was safe to go out on the streets again. Thank God that the game shop was down this road.

Jounouchi smiled when he reached the building. He managed to lose the guard just in time to slam his fists on the door. A confused Mr. Motou answered it.

"Can I-"

Jounouchi dashed inside. The old man let out a gasp with eyes widening in shock. The blonde turned to his elder.

"Don't let him know I'm here."

"What are you doing?" Mr. Motou demanded angrily.

"I'll explain later, gramps," Jounouchi said. A smaller voice came from behind him.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Yugi appeared through the doorway. His eyes went wide when he saw Jounouchi.

"Katsuya-san? What are you doing here?"

Jounouchi was too wound up to question why Yugi had addressed him differently. The blonde looked out the window and cringed. It looked like the guard had gathered some more of his buddies. And they were obviously still looking for him.

Yugi crept closer to Jounouchi. "Katsuya, what happened?"

"Is this a friend of yours, Yugi?" Mr. Motou asked.

Confused, Jounouchi looked at the two. Mr. Motou knew who he was, so why was he asking Yugi about him? What the hell was going on? When Yugi shook his head, Jounouchi felt the weight of the world fall onto his shoulders.

"We're not exactly...friends..." the tri-colored hair boy said.

What?

Yugi continued, "But we are classmates. And I know his brother too."

"Yugi, what are you talking about? I don't have a brother. You know this, gramps," Jounouchi turned to the old man with pleading eyes, "What is this? Some kind of joke?"

Yugi and Mr. Motou stared at him like he was crazy. Jounouchi happened to look back outside. He yelped. The guys were on their way here. In desperation, Jounouchi grabbed onto Yugi's hand as a final plea.

"Now's not the time to play dumb, Yugi. If this is about what I said earlier, then I'm sorry. I miss him too."

"-Who are you talking about-"

"-I need your help. Yugi. These guys are after me."

A loud knock banged on the door.

"Mr. Kaiba! We know you're in there."

Jounouchi's eyes widened. How many times could he be dumbfounded in one day? If it wasn't one thing going on, it was another.

"Kaiba's here?" he asked out loud.

"Katsuya-san, they're talking about you," Yugi said.

Confused, Jounouchi turned to look at him. Yugi looked way too serious for this to be a joke. As a matter of fact, Yugi looked downright terrified to have to deal with him. Jounouchi slowly backed away from him, fearful of making his friend any more anxious than he already was. Mr. Motou opened the door. The guards nearly ran over the old man in an attempt to retrieve the blonde teen. One man grabbed one of Jounouchi's arm while someone grabbed another. The final man turned to Yugi and his stunned grandpa.

"Thank you for your cooperation. You can expect sincere thanks from the head of Kaiba Corp."

Jounouchi couldn't find the words to plead his case. Everything hit him all at once. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't a prank. Somehow, Yugi had forgotten who he was. Somehow, Jounouchi was being forced into a limo with two grown men on either side of him, effectively cutting off his escape.

Jounouchi tried to think what was going on. But the surreal situation was too much for him to comprehend at the moment. He sat in silence until they pulled up to a familiar mansion. A lump of dread fell into the pit of his stomach.

"What does Kaiba want with me?" Jounouchi asked the guards.

They gave him a confused look. One decided to answer.

"Mr. Kaiba. Both your brothers have been looking for you. And the head of Kaiba Corp has already been informed of you running off. He wants us to take you directly to his office."

"He just wants to talk to you," the other guard said, as if to reassure Jounouchi that he wasn't in trouble.

"Please come with us, Mr. Kaiba."

What else could he do? Jounouchi realized that reasoning with these people was pointless. Who were these brothers they kept talking about? And why did they call him Kaiba...

A flash of realization struck Jounouchi as he put two and two together. Wait a minute...It couldn't possibly be that he somehow became brothers to...

"Here he is, sir," the guards said once they entered Kaiba's office. Said billionaire had been typing away on his computer, doing whatever work he normally did. The brunette frowned at Jounouchi.

"Leave us alone for a while."

"Yes sir," with that, the guards left the room. The deafening sound of the lock echoed through the door. Jounouchi was so confused that he was almost dizzy. What in the world was going on here? Kaiba closed his laptop.

"They told me that they found you at some game shop."

Jounouchi blinked. It was odd that Kaiba brushed off Yugi's store as 'some game shop.' What with how obsessed the CEO with beating Yugi, he thought Kaiba would at least call the store by its name.

"I tried calling you a million times. Did you leave your cell phone off again?"

Jounouchi opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. What could he possibly say right now?

Kaiba didn't wait for him to respond. The brunette pulled away from his desk to stand in front of the window. He looked outside while still speaking to the blonde in the room.

"You seem to be under the assumption that the rules only apply to Mokuba. But they apply to you just as well. I let you go where you wanted after school because I thought we had an understanding. You were supposed to be back by dinner. Where were you?"

He looked at Jounouchi strangely, in a way he had never looked at him before. He was angry, which wasn't too surprising. But the anger was...different somehow. More subdued than normal. It was as if Kaiba was trying to disguise his rage.

That didn't seem like something Kaiba would do at all. Could it be true then?

"Um...Kaiba?" Jounouchi asked.

The brunette blinked. He remained silent, so Jounouchi continued.

"I have a funny feeling that what I'm about to say will be a little weird to you. But I don't normally eat dinner with you. Or Mokuba."

"Explain yourself, Kastuya."

Jounouchi gulped. Kaiba had called him by his first name. It had to be true then. Somehow...someway...he had become Kaiba's brother.

He took in a breath, "I'm not related to you, Kaiba. My last name is Jounouchi. And Yugi's my friend."

"Who's Yugi?" Kaiba asked.

Jounouchi was taken aback. Kaiba wasn't joking when he asked that.

"He...he's your rival."

"Is that so?" Kaiba clearly didn't believe him.

"You guys had a duel monsters match coming up. He told me."

Kaiba gave him a long look. Finally, he approached the blonde. Jounouchi flinched, mentally preparing himself for the punch he fully expected from him. But Kaiba didn't hit him.

"Go to your room."

"Eh...Kaiba?"

"And stop calling me Kaiba. I don't know what sort of joke this is, but I don't appreciate it."

"But it's true. We aren't brothers! In an alternate reality-"

"Alternate reality?" Kaiba demanded harshly.

Fuck. Of course Kaiba wouldn't believe him. Kaiba was the book definition of the word 'skeptic.' He wouldn't believe in magical powers even if it was staring him right in the face. What hope did Jounouchi have of convincing him?

Jounouchi decided to give one last attempt to reason with him.

"Look. I don't know how this happened, but I can get Yugi to help. He's dealt with things before."

"You're telling me," Kaiba glared coldly, "That you have a friend, whom you have never spoken of before. And he can help you go into an alternate reality?"

"Yes. We've done magic stuff before. Remember the Millennium Items?"

"The what?"

Jounouchi cried, "The magic things from ancient Egypt. Yugi has one."

Kaiba just stared at him for the longest moment. Jounouchi could hear his heart pounding inside his ears. Finally, the CEO turned away from him.

"I will get Smith to escort you to your room. And I'll pretend you never talked to me about this crazy hocus pocus."

With that, he pressed a button. A different guard came into the room, obviously English or American. Kaiba recruited his members from all over the world, so this wasn't too strange for Jounouchi to see such a guard.

Kaiba began speaking in English. Jounouchi struggled to remember all the lessons he had ever taken. But reading simple sentences of a different language was nothing like trying to converse. All Jounouchi could do was pick up simple words like 'brother,' 'room,' and 'food.'

The guard motioned for Jounouchi to follow him. Realizing he had no choice, Jounouchi complied. He turned to the guard. Maybe he could reason with this one?

"Look. I don't know what-"

"Nihongo...dameyo."

Jounouchi blinked at the sloppy Japanese this guy just hurled at him.

So he couldn't speak Japanese. That was why Kaiba talked to him in English. Jounouchi's last ditched ever to beg with the guard wouldn't work.

The man nearly shoved him through a room, closed the door and lock it. Jounouchi tested the knob out of spite. It didn't budge, just like he thought.

Jounouchi surveyed his surroundings. This was a bedroom? It looked more like a mansion that was inside a mansion. Games flooded the shelves in an orderly fashion, a tv sat in front of the bed, an expensive laptop on top of a marble desk, a bathroom with a tub and a shower, and a picture on an end table. Jounouchi picked it up to get a closer look. There was a miny version of Kaiba holding onto a much smaller Mokuba. Resting shoulders with the chibi Kaiba was none other than Jounouchi himself. He was a kid too.

But at that age, he had never met Kaiba.

So that was the final proof that all this was real. It wasn't a dream. It wasn't staged. Jounouchi had the urge to sit down. The bed was soft as clouds, and he could only guess how expensive it was. It felt like a real feather bed.

He lied down to think. Come on, Jounouchi. Things like this never happened without a reason. Was there some clue that this would happen today? Did some wizard have it out for him or something?

...Wizard.

Jounouchi immediately sat up and slapped his own forehead. God, he was an idiot! Of course it had to have been that wish he made at the store.  
But he didn't wish to be Kaiba's brother. He just wished that Kaiba treated him better...like...Mokuba...

The door opened. In front of the English speaking guard stood the younger Kaiba brother. Mokuba rushed inside to greet Jounouchi.

"Ni-san. Where'd you go? I thought someone had kidnapped you and held you for ransom."

Jounouchi stood so that Mokuba could give him a hug. The blonde hesitantly placed a hand on his head, feeling through the soft black curls. He closed his eyes and sighed. Just play along for now, he decided. He would go back to that shop as soon as he got the chance.

"I'm doing fine, kiddo. Just...uh...just have no idea what to do now," he said with sincerity.

"Did oni-san get too mad you?" Mokuba asked.

He meant Seto Kaiba. Jounouchi gritted his teeth. He wouldn't call that creep ni-san if he could help it, so he decided to avoid addressing him at all.

"No. He just told sent me here."

"He really gets scared when he doesn't know where we are, ni-san," Mokuba chided softly, looking up at Jounouchi with his adorable eyes, "Did you guys have a fight or something? Is that why you made him worry."

"No, Mokuba," Jounouchi insisted. But Mokuba was barely listening.

"You guys get along so well. I hate to see you fight."

Jounouchi scratched the back of his head. In this universe, he and Kaiba got along well. Even though it wasn't exactly what he had in mind, his wish did come true.  
Maybe...he could hang out as a Kaiba brother for a little while. Why not? After all, he could go back to the normal world at any time. Besides, this sounded like it would be a fun experience. He could finally have Kaiba like him a little. It might not do anything for his crush on the guy (since they were brothers), but at least it was something.

"Promise me you won't make oni-san worry so much. Please?"

"Sure, kiddo."

Mokuba smiled at that.


	3. Chapter 3

"Checkmate."

Jounouchi blinked at the board, his mouth slightly ajar. Mokuba giggled to himself while the other male took great pangs to inspect what should have been obvious.

"Are you sure?"

"See, ni-san? My queen and my knight have your king cornered. There's nowhere he can go."

"Oh, _I know_ where he can go," Jounouchi smiled deviously. Then he placed his king all the way over to the edge of the board, safely away from all the other pieces. Mokuba burst out laughing.

"You can't do that," he was nearly in tears. Jounouchi's cheating was obviously in jest, so he didn't get angry with the blonde. Jounouchi managed a chuckle himself. Mokuba reminded him a lot of Shizuka. She would always laugh at his jokes when they were young. Well that proved there was at leasy one thing Jounouchi was good at. When it came to younger siblings, he seemed to have a knack as a comedian.

Kaiba entered the room just as Mokuba's laughter died down. The brunette's lips spread to a soft smile, a sight that Jounouchi was not used to seeing. The blonde couldn't help but stare in awe. Kaiba almost looked cute smiling like that. Such a sight was a work of art meant to be appreciated. And goddamit, Jounouchi was going to appreciate all he wanted.

"Oni-san. He's being silly again," Mokuba snitched.

"I could tell by how much noise you were making," Kaiba noticed Jounouchi staring. He looked the blonde in the eye, "I take it you haven't eaten yet."  
Jounouchi's stomach took that moment to growl. The blonde felt his cheeks turn red hot. Soon he was looking away, feeling ashamed of himself for some reason. Mokuba frowned as he noticed this sudden change.

"Are you okay, ni-san?"

Why was Jounouchi so embarrassed? Maybe having Kaiba actually care about him was a little too much to take in? After all, that in of itself broke every rule of reality that Jounouchi had learned.

Kaiba placed a hand on his shoulder. Jounouchi stared at it like it was the strangest thing the CEO could ever do. Just a few hours ago, they were exchanging blows as enemies. Now Kaiba treated him just like a little brother.

"What's done is done," Kaiba said with finality. Jounouchi could detect the order laden within his words. He wanted Jounouchi to stop worrying about what happened in the office. Kaiba was no doubt never going to mention Yugi or the Millinuem Items again.

"Oni-san. Can I have some ice cream?"

"Sure, Mokuba. You'll eat that while Katsuya eats his food."

"Ehh...Kai-" Jounouchi cut himself off when Kaiba shot him a warning look, "I mean..." he didn't want to address Kaiba as big brother. So he decided not to address him at all, "What's to eat?"

"It's your favorite," Mokuba exclaimed, "Eel!"

Jounouchi made a face, which Kaiba caught.

"What's with that look? I thought you liked eel."

"But I never..." Jounouchi stopped himself before he could finish that sentence. Right, in this reality, he must've had eel before. But in his old reality, it just wasn't something that Jounouchi ever dare to try. He remembered buying an expensive crab with his own money and ended up hating it. He had always been afraid to make the same mistake with ell.

It was a pain in the ass to spend your New Year's Allowance on food while others were spending it on games and such.

"You never what?" Kaiba pressed. Jounouchi's mind scrambled for a purchase. Better lie and keep Kaiba happy, instead of trying to convince him of alternate realities again.

"I never thought that I would get to eat dinner...Considering I missed it."

Mokuba gaped at him, "Oni-san would never stop you from eating, no matter how angry he is."

"For the record, Katsuya," Kaiba added, "I'm not angry. I really want you to stop worrying about it."

His kind eyes held a sincerity that Jounouchi couldn't argue with. The blonde averted his gaze in case Kaiba saw him blushing. Here was his crush, openly admitting that he cared for him. This wish was turning out to be a dream come true.

Mokuba got his ice cream, Jounouchi his dinner, and Kaiba had himself some herbal tea. It turned out that Jounouchi not only liked eel. He loved it. No wonder this food was so expensive, considering how tasty it was. Jounouchi regretted not trying it out a long time ago.

The day continued to be the best that Jounouchi ever had. He slept better than ever that night. The feathered cushions carried him to a deep slumber, while the expensive sleepwear felt amazing against his skin.

When he woke up, he convinced himself that it had all been a dream. That was until he saw Mokuba on the edge of his bed. The kid was still in his pajamas, staring at Jounouchi eagerly.

Jounouchi looked at the clock. 5:45 in the morning, the earliest he had ever gotten up. Despite that, he felt rested and ready to start the day.

"You're up early," he observed while he sat up on the bed.

"I was wondering if we could play some more. Before we have to eat breakfast?"

Jounouchi frowned. Mokuba certainly put that in a strange way. Who said that they had to eat breakfast?

"Is Kaiba still asleep?"

Mokuba's eyes went wide with shock. Jounouchi realized his mistake, and immediately went to rectify what he said.

"I mean is..." fuck it. He would just say it, "is ni-san still asleep?"

He couldn't believe he just called Seto Kaiba that. Jounouchi wanted to bury himself into the ground because he was so embarrassed.

Mokuba nodded, noticing Jounouchi's odd behavior but letting it slide.

"Yeah. He was working at three in the morning again. I saw him."

"What were you doing up that late?" Jounouchi arched a brow and gave Mokuba a slightly stern look. It was an expression he used to use on Shizuka whenever he had to act like a big brother. God, he missed those days.

Mokuba snapped his mouth shut. Horror crossed his features as the child braced himself for a lecture from the blonde. Or worse, for Jounouchi to tell on him.  
Instead Jounouchi merely chuckled, "Don't worry about it. I won't tell him or anything."

The child sighed in relief, "Thanks, ni-san."

The two exchanged smiles, happy with this secret between them.

After that, they played some of Jounouchi's video games. Mokuba accussed Jounouchi of going easy on him. But in reality, Jounouchi was actually trying his hardest. He had never played these games before, despite what Mokuba thought.

"I guess we gotta get ready for school," Mokuba moaned. Laughing, Jounouchi ruffled the kid's hair.

"I hear ya, kid. School sucks."

Mokuba slapped the hand away, insulted that he was being treated like a child. Before he could say anything, Kaiba's warning tone came from behind them.

"Katsuya."

Both boys jumped out of their skins. They threw themselves on their feet and turned to face the CEO. Instead of being angry, Kaiba smiled at Jounouchi in amusement.

"You're not badmouthing school in front of Mokuba again, are you?"

Kaiba was...joking around with him? He was actually laughing with Jounouchi and not at him?

At that moment, Jounouchi was glad that he went inside the magic shop. He wouldn't mind living this wish again and again. Maybe he should go ahead and buy that thing.

"Ni-san? Why are you looking at oni-san so strangely?" Mokuba asked, snapping Jounouchi back to reality.

Kaiba arched a brow, but his smile was still intact, as if he knew the answer to the question already.

"You know how braindead Katsuya gets in the morning. I'm sure he'll get his head working soon. Now both of you get changed. We'll get breakfast and head to school."

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, English tea, pickled veggies, biscuits, fruit, and coffee. Jounouchi was so awed by the spread that he just stared at it until Mokuba asked him what he was looking at. The blonde found everything delicious.

Soon they were riding in style. Apparently walking was only done by people who weren't rich. The limo took them directly to school, where a bunch of classmates stared at them in envy.

"See you guys later," Mokuba walked toward his own school. After he was out of sight, Kaiba turned to Jounouchi.

"Let's get going."

Jounouchi nodded. Were they even in the same class now that they were brothers? Fearful of asking that question, Jounouchi instead followed Kaiba in hopes of finding out for himself. A familiar person walked in front of them. Seeing him made Jounouchi grin.

"Hey Honda!"

Kaiba looked at him incredously. Before the CEO could stop him, Jounouchi was already in front of Honda. Honda looked at him funny, but Jounouchi was too excited to see him to notice right away.

"Have you talked to Yugi? I went to his house the other day and he was acting like he never seen me before."

Silence. Honda stared at him so long that you would've thought Jounouchi had grown a second head. His brunette friend suddenly glared at him. Honda walked a bit faster, trying to escape Jounouchi.

Confused, Jounouchi grabbed onto Honda's shoulder.

"Hey. What are you-" but Jounouchi was cut off by a fist connecting to his jaw. Jounouchi backed away, the feeling of betrayal hurting more than the actual punch. He and Honda had gotten into plenty of fights before, but this was obviously different. This time, the blow wasn't the result of friendly concern in the form of tough love. This punch was full of hatred.

Hatred for Jounouchi.

"Get out of my face, you rich snob!"

Jounouchi felt his whole world shatter. Kaiba was inbetween him and Honda that very second. The glare he sent Honda's way could melt a bolder with how much fire it held.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

"What are you going to do about it?" Honda challenged.

"You'll see soon enough," Kaiba said it like a promise.

Honda shot him a nasty look, before turning to leave. It seemed as though he wasn't in the mood to fight Kaiba in hand to hand combat. Maybe even in this universe, Honda knew how skilled Kaiba was at fighting.

Jounouchi made a move to go after Honda, but Kaiba held him in place. The CEO turned to him.

"What's gotten into you? Acting like you're friends with that punk?"

"But..." Jounouchi scrambled to find the right words to explain himself, "He _is_ my friend."

Kaiba touched Jounouchi's nose, causing the blonde to blush from the contact. When Kaiba pulled away, Jounouchi noticed the blood on his fingers. Jounouchi felt at his own nose. He really was bleeding. He didn't realize that Honda had hit him that hard.

Kaiba looked at him with concern. He hooked his arm with Jounouchi's.

"Let's get you to the nurse. And the stay the hell away from him."

"Kaiba, you're not actually going to do anything to him...are you?"

A flash of lightning crossed the CEO's eyes. Jounouchi knew immediately that he made a mistake.

"Enough with that damn joke, Katsuya. I will not tolerate you calling me Kaiba. And stop trying to befriend animals like that. He is no longer your concern."

"But-"

"This is not up for discussion, Katsuya."

Kaiba meant business. Jounouchi clamped his mouth shut when he realized that he was fighting a losing battle. Once satisfied that Jounouchi wouldn't argue any further, Kaiba took him to the nurse's office. Jounouchi was treated quickly.

They arrived in class a little after the bell rang. Jounouchi saw Honda sitting far away from Anzu and Yugi. As a matter of fact, he was sitting away from everyone. Yugi saw Jounouchi, and a look of horror crossed his face. He was no doubt still creeped out from yesterday.

"Will you sit down?" Kaiba said.

"I...uh...sit with you?"

"Where else have you been sitting all year?" Kaiba asked.

Jounouchi looked at Anzu and Yugi. They were whispering to each other, while not too subtly glancing his direction.

A sudden horrifying realization entered Jounouchi's head. Could it be possible that this alternative reality changed his relationship with his friends too? Could it be that...he wasn't Yugi's friend after all?

Jounouchi suddenly felt sick. He thought this wish had been great. But not at the cost of his friendship with everyone. And why wasn't Yugi wearing the puzzle? Even after Atemu left, he always had it on. Jounouchi assumed it was because the object reminded Yugi of the spirit's presence.

He stared at Yugi, trying to figure out what was going on with the puzzle. Yugi seemed to know that he was watching. The tri-colored hair teen did his best to ignore Jounouchi, though he would glance Jounouchi's way from time to time. Kaiba also noticed where Jounouchi's attention was. Jounouchi could feel him frowning at the back of his head.

Finally, the last bell rang, singaling school was over. Jounouchi decided he would catch up to Yugi and Anzu at the locker. If he wasn't friends with them in this reality, then he would try to befriend them all over again.

But just before he could go up to them, Kaiba stood in the way. Jounouchi stared at him in confusion.

"I noticed you looking at those two losers. Mind telling me what it is about them that interests you so much?"  
Jounouchi scowled.

"They're not losers."

"Who are they?" Kaiba asked, ignoring the anger in Jounouchi's voice.

"Their names are Anzu and Yugi. I-" Jounouchi scrambled for a lie. But Kaiba cut him off before he could come up with one.

"Yugi, huh? So at least he's real."

"I wouldn't lie about him."

Kaiba frowned at Jounouchi's insistance. Jounouchi happened to look behind him. He cursed silently to himself. Anzu and Yugi were already gone.

"I think it would be best if you stay away from both of them."

Jounouchi couldn't believe what he just heard. That hadn't been a request. That had been a straight up demand.

For the first time since this wish came into effect, Jounouchi was angry with Kaiba. He barely refrained from using the "moneybags" insult. That was a force of habit.

"I don't need your permission when it comes to my friends."

"Really? Do you know that for a fact?" Kaiba said half angrily, half smugly.

Jounouchi bared his teeth, "Last I checked, there wasn't a law that says I did."

"Last I checked, you didn't have friends."

Too shocked to be upset anymore, Jounouchi felt the heat rush from his face. He stared at Kaiba as if the other male was a giant penguin.

"You're looking surprised. What is going on with you, Katsuya? You've been acting weird since last night."

Kaiba had that same concerned look on his face as before. But now, Jounouchi wasn't sure he liked it as much. In this world, Jounouchi was just some lonesome moneybags with no friends. He had become the thing he hated most.

He barely processed Kaiba trying to get his attention. Barely processed Kaiba guiding him to the limo more like a mother hen than a big brother. He barely even processed Mokuba trying to get his attention.

They arrived at the mansion a little while later.

"It's time to do your homework, you two," Kaiba ordered.

Jounouchi was starting to get the sense that he was used to calling all the shots in his house. The blonde had managed to recover his wits to this point. It would all be fine, he reassured himself. Even if Kaiba didn't want him to, Jounouchi was determined to get his friends back. He would find out what was going on with them. Why Yugi was not wearing his puzzle and why Honda was acting like a prick.

It turned out that Jounouchi and Mokuba had their own work area. Jounouchi realized that his homework was a lot harder than normal. Mokuba noticed him struggling.

"What's wrong, ni-san?"

"I don't get it."

Mokuba looked at his notes. He paused.

"I thought you were good with math?"

Good with math? There were more digits and letters on this paper than uncoded computer software. It made about as much since to him as well. Jounouchi had a thought.

"Did Kaiba make sure I do well in school?"

"Why do you keep calling him Kaiba? It's weird, ni-san."

Shit. The force of habit was going to get him in trouble one day. Jounouchi did his best to pretend like it was no big deal.

"It was a slip of the tongue, kiddo. Didn't mean to."

"That slip of the tongue came out of nowhere. I think something's wrong with your head."

Jounouchi gave him a stern look, "Watch it."

"I mean it, ni-san. You've been acting really weird. And you'll scare oni-san if you keep it up. I just...I just don't want anything to happen to you two."

"What would happen?" Jounouchi frowned in concern.

The young boy shrugged, fiddling with his own homework. But Jounouchi could tell that Mokuba wasn't really focused on the project in front of him.

"You know him, ni-san. You know that oni-san can sometimes...take extreme measures when it comes to us. If he thinks even for a second that you're going to get yourself hurt, then he'll lock you in your room for the rest of your life."

Jounouchi cracked up laughing. Unbeknownst to him, Mokuba wasn't joking.


	4. Chapter 4

The second day as Kaiba's little brother started out well. Jounouchi got to eat fancy French food for breakfast, play video games with Mokuba, and then listen to Kaiba talk about work. That was probably his favorite part. It was wonderful to just have Kaiba talking to him like a normal human being, rather than with constant resentment. When Kaiba spoke to him, his blue eyes glimmered a little, as if simply being around Jounouchi brought him joy. It took all of Jounouchi's willpower not to gush at the sight. In this universe, he could bring Kaiba happiness. In this universe, Kaiba cared about him.

But although the day started out great, it ended with disastor. The problems arouse when Smith came into Jounouchi's 'room' while he and Mokuba were playing Duel Monsters. Jounouchi had just been about to summon a level 6 monster when Smith grabbed him and sputtered English at a breakneck speed. Jounouchi could only stare, frozen in shock.

"What?"

Mokuba leaned forward as if to try and listen better. But as far as Jounouchi knew, the kid couldn't speak English either. Mokuba seemed to be struggling to understand what the problem was.

"I think he wants to take you to oni-san. And by the looks of it, it's important."

Jounouchi turned back to the frightened bodyguard. He let himself be pulled out of his seat. As Smith dragged him down the hall, Jounouchi pondered the reasons that Kaiba needed to see him all of the sudden. Did he get hurt? Did one of Kaiba's Blue Eyes White Dragon statues fall on top of him and now he needed Jounouchi to come rescue him? Was he in pain?

To Jounouchi's relief, when they entered Kaiba's office, the brunette looked fine. Well...physically fine anyway. But emotionally, Kaiba was livid. He looked ready to shoot lazers out of his eyes and melt Jounouchi into a puddle of goo.

Smith left the two alone. Suddenly Jounouchi wished he really could be a puddle and sink into the ground.

"So..." Kaiba began. His voice was cold, calculating even. A long pause filled the room with its silence.

Jounouchi realized that Kaiba wanted him to be intimidated. Whenever Kaiba wanted that, Jounouchi was quick to disguise his fear. So when Kaiba glared, Jounouchi glared right back.

"So...what?"

"Don't sass me," Kaiba warned. He pulled out a paper from his suitcase in order to thrust it in Jounouchi's face. Jounouchi could only stare in bewilderment. That was his math quiz he took today. He thought he was going to get that back tomorrow. How did Kaiba get it?

"Explain. This. Grade," Kaiba spat venom with each punctured word.

Jounouchi gulped. He knew he hadn't done well on the quiz, but that 29 was low, even for him.

"Uh...well I uh...can't really...I don't know what to say..." Jounouchi felt like a kicked puppy in front of Kaiba's gaze. He could no longer match glare for glare. Kaiba had succeeded in making him scared.

His stammering caused the CEO to sigh. Kaiba walked around his desk in order to stand closer to the blonde. His anger had diminshed somewhat, but Jounouchi wouldn't fool himself to thinking that he was in the clear.

"I don't have to tell you that math is your best subject."

Eh...what? No way was that true. Jounouchi sucked at math. He seldom scrapped by each class with anything higher than a C.

If he was supposed to be good in this universe, then he was doomed. There was no way Jounouchi could compete with Katsuya Kaiba. His other self might excel in math. But that didn't make Jounouchi automatically good at it too.

"So when I saw this grade on your quiz, I could only come with one conclusion. You did it on purpose. My question is, why?" Kaiba gave him a stare that pleaded for an honest answer.

Jounouchi tried as hard as he could on the quiz. But there was no way Kaiba would believe him. So instead of trying to explain himself, Jounouchi opted for the guilty silence technique.

Kaiba's jaw tightened. The lack of response evidentally angered him more.

"Fine. Don't tell me why you're acting like this. But if you don't start shaping up, then I'll take away all your games until you do."

Holy...did Kaiba just say that...unironically? Did he just go the Papa Bear route...with Jounouchi?

The blonde couldn't help himself. He laughed. Kaiba was acting like his father? That was the funniest thing he had ever seen!

The CEO was dumbfounded by this reaction. His hands curled up into fists. Yet surprisingly, he didn't punch Jounouchi.

"What's so funny?"

"I just...you're so cute."

His laughter ceased the second he realized what he just said to Kaiba. The brunette looked at him like he had grown a second head. Jounouchi felt like an idiot.  
Why did he call Kaiba cute to the CEO's face? Sure, Jounouchi had been thinking it. He had been thinking how adorable Kaiba could be when mad. Not the kind of anger he showed Jounouchi in the other universe, but the one he showed to Mokuba whenever the kid did something reckless. For a sweet moment, Jounouchi could see something human inside the cold CEO. And that was what made it so cute.

But saying it outloud was the worst thing he could've done. Maybe Kaiba would want nothing to do with him now.

Jounouchi looked into the CEO's face, but Kaiba's expression was unreadable. Was he disgusted? Angry? Upset? Jounouchi couldn't pinpoint the emotion on his face.  
After a long silence, Kaiba's shoulders slounched. The brunette suddenly looked very tired.

"Straighten up. Please," he begged Jounouchi. His plea was soft, like he didn't have the energy to yell anymore, "I don't have time to be worrying about this. I mean it, Katsuya. If you don't start acting normal again...I don't know what I'll do."

He was serious. Now Jounouchi felt guilty for laughing. Kaiba went back to his desk.

"Just go back to your room. We'll end our discussion here."

"Kaiba-" Jounouchi began in concern for the other male.

Wrong move. Kaiba shot Jounouchi another boulder melting look. Right. He didn't want to be called by his surname. Jounouchi glued his lips shut. Without another word, the blonde left the room. He felt bad after seeing how exhausted Kaiba looked. Running an entire company had to be draining, especially for a teenager. The last thing Kaiba needed to worry about was Jounouchi.

Jounouchi cared too much about Kaiba to let him be this afraid. Jounouchi was determined to find a way to set Kaiba's mind at ease.

But what could Jounouhi do? It wasn't like he was trying to get bad grades.

A maid nearly bumped into him as she turned the corner. The elderly woman stopped the moment she saw him. Her eyes shone in relief.

"Mr. Kaiba. You're exactly who I was looking for. A girl is making a scene at the front door. She's demanding to see you. Please calm her down before your brother finds out."

Confused, Jounouchi followed the frantic maid downstairs where main lobby was. When she opened the door, an angry Anzu stood just outside. She was glaring.  
A twinge of joy filled Jounouchi's heart. It was good to see one of his friends without Kaiba warning them away.

Jounouchi's happiness turned to fear as Anzu stomped toward him. The blonde backed away, but Anzu matched two steps for every step he took.

"What are you playing at, Katsuya Kaiba?"

His eyes widened at her accusation. The maid watched the scene helplessly, unsure of what to do. Jounouchi was thankful that Kaiba had no idea about this.

"What are you talking about, Anzu?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid," Anzu held her hands to her hips, "Yugi told me that you invaded his home and scared the wits out of him, pretending to be insane."

"I wasn't pretending," Jounouchi remarked before he realized what he had just said.

Anzu continued as if she hadn't heard him. She was on a roll. When it came to protecting friends, there was little you could do to stop Anzu's rant except for waiting it out.

"You and your brothers are always treating everything like a game. You treat people like a game, life like a game, and your enemies like a game. I heard what you monsters did to that classmate of ours. If you think you can do anything like that to Yugi, then you got another thing coming."

She paused, signaling that Jounouchi had a chance to speak.

"I don't know what classmate you're talking about."

Anzu sighed, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. She thought Jounouchi was still pretending. What kind of person was Katsuya Kaiba to make her think that he would try and hurt Yugi?

"His name was Honda or something," she answered. Her voice had quietened somewhat.

Stricken, Jounouchi's jaw went slack. A lump of dread fell into the pit of his stomach, nasuea growing out of it like a nasty weed beginning to sprout.

Anzu caught the fear in Jounouchi's eyes. Her expression softened ever so slightly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Instead of answering, Jounouchi had a question of his own.

"Honda? Hiroto Honda? What happened to him?"

Anzu fell silent. Jounouchi suddenly felt sick. He held onto her shoulders and pleaded with her.

"This isn't funny, Anzu. What happened to him?"

"You...really don't know?" all trace of rage had vanished, leaving behind a concern Anzu.

Jounouchi barely managed to keep his cool. He felt ready to scream. How could he have forgotten Kaiba's hidden threat towards Honda the other day? Did Kaiba actually do something to him?

Jounouchi prayed that the answer was no. But considering it was Seto Kaiba they were talking about, Jounouchi couldn't put anything passed him.

"Please tell me. Is he alright?"

"Both his parents lost their jobs," Anzu stated slowly, "The company they worked for went under. They're saying that your cooperation bought them and fired everyone."

How could Kaiba do that much damage to someone in a matter of days? And all for a punch to the face?

Jounouchi couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. It had to be some misunderstanding.

"I gotta talk to him."

"Who are you talking about?" Anzu asked. Jounouchi let go of her shoulders, "Hey. Where are you going?"

Jounouchi was already out the door by the time Anzu decided to follow. The teenage girl could barely keep up with Jounouchi's erratic pace. He pushed his way through the gate and turned left, the direction in which Honda lived at.

Anzu managed to stay by his side, even though she was having trouble.

"Hey. I'm not finished talking to you. Where are you going, Kaiba?"

Jounouchi ignored her. All he could think about was talking to Honda as quickly as possible. All he could think about was him dead on the floor, because his parents could no longer buy food for him.

Jounouchi hadn't been the only member of Yugi's gang with money problems. Honda might've had both his parents, but financially, the brunette had been even worse off than Jounouchi. They rarely talked about their problems in front of their friends. It was something that they only spoke with each other.

Honda's parents owed a lot of money too. Money that would make Jounouchi's father's debts look like a small dent. Jounouchi never got the full story of how they got in so deep in the hole, but he knew one thing for certain. Honda couldn't afford something like this to happen, no matter what reality they were in.

Jounouchi was impressed that Anzu followed him the whole way, considering the trip took a little over half an hour. She must've seriously been determined to keep talking about Yugi. The female teen kept her mouth shut as they stood in front of the run down house. Honda's home.

The blonde pounded on the door. Anzu stared at his back, uncertain of what she had gotten herself into. The door opened for half a second, before it slammed itself on Jounouchi's face. Too late. Jounouchi already saw that he was home.

"Honda. Open up!"

"Leave me alone, you freak!"

"Honda, is it true? Anzu told me."

His question was met with silence. Anzu tensed up, fear spreading across her face. She looked like she'd rather be anywhere else but here.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

Jounouchi realized that she was struggling to figure out the reason for his actions. Maybe she knew that Honda and he weren't actually friends in this universe, and now she couldn't figure out what prompted Jounouchi to do this.

Did that mean that Katsuya Kaiba would've let Honda suffer without trying to talk to him? Would Katsuya Kaiba had let Kaiba destroy people's lives without resistance? Was Katsuya Kaiba so petty that he would've thought dying of starvation was an appropriate punishment for a punch to the jaw?

The more questions he asked himself, the less he wanted to know.

Jounouchi knocked a few more times before the door swung open. To his shock, Honda didn't immediately go for his throat. Honda looked ready to kill the blonde on the spot, yet he kept his hands to himself.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I want to know what happened," Jounouchi pleaded.

Honda growled. He grabbed Jounouchi's collar, "You know what happened. Why do you want me to tell you so badly? Does it make you happy to know you fucked up my life?"

"I didn't do anything-"

"Right," Honda smiled without any trace of humor, "Because I deserved it, right?"

"I didn't mean it that way. I meant that I didn't know he was going to do that," Jounouchi's voice pleaded with Honda to believe him.

Honda gripped at his collar and yanked him closer, cutting off air passage to Jounouchi's lungs. That was the least of his problems right now. Honda's fist shook with blinding white rage.

It was worse now. Honda looked ready to kill Jounouchi. Literally.

"Hey. Let him go. Please?" Anzu spoke. She stood away in fear that a nasty fight would break out at any second.

"Don't tell me what to do," Honda barked.

"Honda," Jounouchi said, effectively turning the brunette's attention back on him, "I mean it. I'll talk to Kaiba, okay? I'll get their jobs back."

Jounouchi waited for Honda to calm down. But to his surprise, Honda threw him on the ground so hard that he saw stars. A torrent of fists came tumbling down his frame as Honda took out all of his anger and hatred out on him.

The blonde was too stunned to fight back. Too ashamed of himself to speak. Too frozen in fear to run away. The fists kept coming.

Crack!

The pain blinded him to anything else. Jounouchi realized that his nose had been smashed in two. Blood spewed out of him like a faucet.

"I'm calling the cops!" Anzu screamed.

Honda paused, then darted back inside his house and locked the door. Jounouchi forced himself back on his feet, trying to ignore the pain in his face. He had some terrible fights in the past, but he couldn't recall being left with this much damage.

Anzu helped him up. She looked at him like he was the craziest man alive.

"Are you okay?"

Jounouchi looked at the door. Honda's house was suddenly very quiet. Too quiet.

"Yeah..."

"Are you insane?" Anzu asked.

Jounouchi touched his nose and inspected his hand. There was a lot more blood than last time. Kaiba would lose his mind the minute he saw his face.  
Anzu softened. She gently tugged Jounouchi toward her. The blonde allowed her to drag him to where she wanted to go. Their walk was silent.

She took Jounouchi to a small clinic. No doubt it was one of those smaller businesses, much like Yugi's what grandpa had.

The doctor turned as soon as the two entered the building. He was a frail, skinny old man. His skin was so pale, Jounouchi wondered if he was sick. The doctor beamed when he saw Anzu.

"Hello Miss Mazaki. Oh? What's this?" his smile fell as soon as he caught sight of Jounouchi's face.

"He got into a fight. Can you help him?" Anzu asked, "And...would it be possible to not fill out any paperwork? He doesn't want to tell his family what happened."

Jounouchi realized what Anzu was thinking. If Kaiba found out what Honda did to him, then Honda would suffer even more. Jounouchi shot her a grateful look.

The doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. It's not okay for me to check a patient when I have no idea what his medical history is. Or what he's allergic to. Or what-"

"Please Dr. Hino? I promise he'll tell you anything you need to know about that. But he needs to be inspected right away."

"I agree," the doctor turned to Jounouchi, "Come here, son. We'll talk about the paperwork later."

That meant that the doctor was still on the fence. Jounouchi realized that if Kaiba could get a quiz back early that wasn't even his, then Kaiba could definately get his hands on anything regarding Jounouchi's health too.

Unless, of course, there was no such paperwork to be found. Anzu can really think on the fly when she needed to.

The doctor placed an alcohol laden cloth to Jounouchi's wound. It took all of his willpower not to back away. The strong smelling medicine was like fire on his already painful cracked nose.

The doctor was completely patient with him. He finished bandaging up Jounouchi's nose, definitely not going to be discreet when he got back to the mansion, and took a long look at him. Jounouchi stared back.

"Have I seen you on tv somewhere?"

"I don't think so. I'm not exactly an actor," Jounouchi answered. Hopefully the guy wasn't talking about that little 'incident' where Otogi had him dressed as a dog in front of cameras. It took a lot of kindness on Jounouchi's part to forgive and forget.

"I see. Well, son. Your family is going to find out sooner or later. I realize you must have your reasons for not wanting to tell them, but-"

Jounouchi took a moment to think. Kaiba was going to find out about the fight, the doctor was right about that. So the blonde had to do everything in his power not to let Kaiba find out who did it.

Maybe a story was in order.

"I didn't know the guy who punched me. He started attacking Anzu and I out of nowhere."

The doctor arched a brow.

"Is that right?" he didn't sound like he believed him. But Jounouchi persisted.

"I was outside talking to Anzu when he attacked us. Whatever you say in your papers, can you make sure that he knows that?"

"He?"

"My...brother," Jounouchi stumbled upon the word. He had actually called his own crush his kin.

Then realization struck. No matter how much Kaiba might've cared for him in this reality, Jounouchi was always going to be his little brother. His wish had never been granted in the first place. At least, not the way he intended it.

Maybe he should consider going back to the store.


	5. Chapter 5

After he had been fixed up enough to look like he was only partially mutilated, Jounouchi invited Anzu to drink with him at a nearby cafe. She agreed, much to his shock and joy. Now the two were sipping at their tea. But Anzu wasn't comfortable around him like she was in the other universe. She kept glancing around the room in order to avoid eye contact, making Jounouchi wonder why she had agreed in the first place. The silence between them was unbearable.

Jounouchi rubbed his nose, wincing when he pressed into it. He was curious to see if it was really broken. If the bones underneath his flesh had really cracked in two. It was strange to think about once it actually happened to you. It hurt like hell too.

"Don't touch it. The doctor said that you need to leave it alone and let it heal by itself."

Jounouchi cracked a smile. There was the friendly concern he was used to seeing from Anzu.

A thought crossed his mind. Since Anzu was finally hanging out with him, then this was his chance to offer his friendship. It would make this universe better if he could talk with her and Yugi like he used to. He might not be able to change the fact that he was Kaiba's brother in this reality, but at least he could get his friends back.

He fished through his head for possible ways to strike up a conversation.

"Hey, I was wondering. Are you any good at math?" he asked, his voice sounded strange to him due to his broken nose.

Anzu looked up from her cup.

"Oh that's right. You're one of the best in class, right? I always see you name somewhere on the top scores. I can never compete with you."

Jounouchi felt the color drain from his face. _Way to bring in the pressure, Anzu_.

"Yeah..." he tried to sound smooth, but his voice trailed off, "Do you ever want to study together? With Yugi too? I can...help you guys with math."

He hoped his lie wasn't that obvious. Jounouchi dared a glimpse at the teenage girl's face. Her brows knitted together in silent thought, a serious expression on her face.

"Gee. I don't know, Katsuya. You seem like a nicer guy than I thought you were but..."

"...But?"

"But...I'm still not sure about you. You're acting a lot different than normal. You used to be so distant to everyone who wasn't your brother. I thought you hated everyone else. I don't understand why you suddenly want to be friends."

Jounouchi opened his mouth to say something, but a look on Anzu's face caught his attention. She was staring past him with fear in her eyes. Blinking, Jounouchi turned his head around.

And his heart grew cold.

Several bodyguards were staring them down. One mumbled something under his breath, and Jounouchi could only assume he was talking into a hidden earpiece. They point towards the teenagers before heading that way.

Anzu stood up.

"I'm sorry, Katsuya. I have to go," she fumbled nervously. But she paused for a single second to say one last thing, "Don't touch your nose."

With that, she left. Jounouchi was grateful that she bothered to say that last sentence. That meant that she was slowly coming around to caring for him. He had failed to make friends today, but it seemed like he still had a chance.

The bodyguards circled him like a pack of wolves. Even if Jounouchi had wanted to escape, it would've been impossible now. So he calmly stood up and allowed the guard behind him to escort him away.

They were all looking at his face with worry. A few were mumbling with each other in anger, probably arguing over who was going to tell their boss that Jounouchi was damaged goods. Jounouchi took this time to think up a story that Kaiba would believe.

It was only when they got into the limo that a guard next to Jounouchi spoke up.

"Do you need an ice pack, sir?"

Weird that he would wait to ask him this. Jounouchi shook his head.

"I'm fine," Jounouchi resisted the urge to rub his nose again. Damn, it hurt like hell.

Jounouchi looked out the window. The guards remained silent, giving him freedom to think in peace. His thoughts trailed to Anzu and Yugi. Was it just the two of them hanging out now that he and Honda were out of the picture? How did Yugi handle the rabid fans by himself? Being the King of Games made a lot of strangers prone to challenging Yugi for the title. A few even got nasty. That was when Honda or Jounouchi would usually come in to protect their little friend. So how did Yugi look out for himself now?

As luck would have it, Jounouchi spotted Yugi just as he was thinking about him. Yugi stood at the sidewalk, talking to some shady looking fellows. Jounouchi's eyes went wide. Who were those guys? They were about Jounouchi's height, dressed in dark clothes, and had wicked smiles on their faces. Yugi didn't look very comfortable around them.

Jounouchi only caught a glimpse as the limo drove away. No! He needed to see what was going on. Jounouchi had a bad feeling about this. He turned to the guard.

"Hold up. I need to stop the car."

The bodyguard arched a brow, confusion knitted his features behind his black frames.

"Sir?" he asked. He made no move to tell the driver to stop.

"I need to stop the car. I saw my friend with some weird guys. So stop the car."

The bodyguard shook his head.

"Our orders were to take you directly back to the mansion."

"Besides," the driver popped in. Jounouchi hadn't realized he had even been listening, "We're going to be in enough trouble bringing you back like you are now. We can't let you deal with other people who will harm you even more."

Jounouchi's jaw went slack. They weren't seriously going to let Yugi get hurt, would they?

The blonde struggled in his seat. His arms flawed about as he attempted to push himself off. He didn't really have a plan, but he couldn't just sit quietly now that he knew his friend could be in trouble.

The guard beside him made an aggravated noise. He grabbed hold of Jounouchi's shoulders and pinned him to the window. Jounouchi tried kicking at him, but the man's superior strength made the blonde look like a beetle trying to get out of a bug collection.

"Cease and desist, Mr. Kaiba! We are prepared to use force if you don't cooperate."

"Let me go!" Jounouchi cried, "Dammit, I already told you guys. He needs help."

"And we already told you no!"

"Let me out! I need to see if he's alright. Get off of me, stupid. Yu-Yugi!"

The struggling continued for the rest of the trip. Now the guard was livid. Once they parked, he grabbed Jounouchi by the neck. A few other guards saw the commotion and helped restrain the blonde. They practically dragged Jounouchi inside while he continued to struggle in a vain attempt to get free.

Kaiba was pacing in the room until they came inside. He took in the scene before him, Jounouchi with a broken nose and trying to fight off the guards. Kaiba said nothing.

One of the guards bowed.

"Sir. We found him like this with a girl at the cafe. He came quietly, but sometime during the ride he began acting like this. He said he saw a friend."

"It's Yugi, dammit!" Jounouchi cried out.

Kaiba walked over to the blonde. The guards still had a tight hold on him. Jounouchi froze the second he saw Kaiba's face. Never before had he seen such raw hurt and anger. Kaiba was always careful about showing weakness in the other reality. It seemed that right now Kaiba simply didn't give a damn.

"Leave us alone. Make sure no one comes in," Kaiba continued to stare at Jounouchi, "And make sure no one leaves until I authorize it."

"Yes, sir."

Everyone was gone within a few seconds. Doors closed and locked all around the room, leaving the two teens with no other company other than defeaning silence. Thoughts of helping Yugi fled Jounouchi's head. The look of contempt on Kaiba's face made him realize just how much trouble he was in. This was nothing like getting a bad grade on a quiz.

"Kai...Ni-san-"

"Don't," Kaiba cut him off with a hard voice. Then his eyes narrowed, "Don't say anything until I start asking questions. And only give me straight answers. I don't want to hear excuses. I don't want to hear explanations. Do you understand?"

Gulping, Jounouchi nodded. Kaiba could really be scary as a protective older brother.

"Now tell me what happened to your nose."

Jounouchi felt the weight of the world throw itself on his shoulders. All the stories he came up with left his brain. He forced himself to fish one out randomly, even though he couldn't remember if it was the best story out of the pick or not.

"I was walking with Anzu and a guy came up behind me. I didn't know who he was."

Kaiba showed no signs that he believed him. However, the brunette was still listening.

"How did he attack you?"

"Um..." don't stammer, he told himself. That would just make the lie more obvious, "He twisted me around and socked me. I fought back, but he took me by surprise. I think he wanted money or something."

That was a believable motive, right?

Kaiba reached out to touch Jounouchi's face. The confused blonde let him inspect the bandages that the doctor had supplied him with. Kaiba made a humming sound, as if he was reassuring himself of something. It might be that he was making sure Jounouchi was properly taken care of.

Jounouchi's cheeks heat up and his heart skipped a beat. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined Kaiba touching him so gently. So sweetly. It was an action that Jounouchi could only fantasize about before.

Kaiba withdrew his hand once he was satisfied with whatever he had been looking for. Jounouchi longed to lean back into his touch, but he knew that doing so wouldn't seem very brotherly. The next time he went back to that store, Jounouchi would make sure to be as specific as possible.

"So if what you're telling me is true, then you must've got a good look at him."

Jououchi braced himself for the questions that were coming.

"Yeah, I did."

"So...? Give me some details so we can find him."

"Um...he had an eye patch. Was about three inches taller than me. Had black hair and wore sunglasses."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

"What was he wearing?"

Jounouchi suddenly found himself anxious.

"I can't remember," he said dumbly, "...It...It wasn't like I had time to appreciate his fashion sense."

"Right," Kaiba frowned, "You know what I'm thinking?"

The question caught Jounouchi off guard.

"Eh-no?"

"I'm thinking you're the worst liar on the planet. I won't even waste time providing that description to the authorities."

"Well...we don't need to go to the police, right?" Jounouchi asked.

Kaiba smirked without humor reaching his ice cold eyes.

"The only reason you wouldn't want to involve the police is because you want to protect your assailant. So he must've threaten you to keep quiet. Don't worry, Katsuya. We'll find him with or without your help."

He was only half right. Jounouchi did want to protect Honda, but not because of any threat. Jounouchi didn't dare to say that outloud. Kaiba suddenly grabbed hold of his hand and led him to the couch. After they were seated, Kaiba pressed a few buttons on his cell. Jounouchi waited patiently for him to finish with whatever he was doing.

Kaiba turned his attention back on the blond.

"I don't know what lowbrow clinic you went to. But now I'm going to make sure you actually get proper treatment."

Frowning, Jounouchi touched the bandages. Anzu trusted the doctor, so he did as well. And the doctor hadn't even charged him for the service. Going to another doctor would seem like a slap on the face to their hospitality.

"Ni-san. I'm fine."

"I don't want to hear it. You haven't been 'fine' for days now. First you start spouting off nonsense about an alternative universe, then you pretend you're friends with a thug, and now this? No, Katsuya. 'Fine' is the last word I would use to describe you right now."

"But Ni-san-"

"Hush," Kaiba shot him a warning look, "I believe I told you to only speak when answering my questions. And I'm not finished asking them. What were you doing with that girl?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Responding to a question with another question is not an answer, Katsuya. Now tell me what you were doing with her. From what I've been told, she's that girl in our class. Why were you with her? Do you like her or something?"

Jounouchi felt his jaw drop. Anzu was like a sister to him and it had always been that way.

Not to mention the person Jounouchi liked was sitting right next to him.

Out of nervousness, Jounouchi reached to touch his own broken nose. But Kaiba held his wrist to stop him, giving him a warning glare.

"Anzu is my friend."

Kaiba said, "Another friend that I'm just hearing about? Where have all these friends been all these years? Why are you suddenly buddies with the whole school now?"

"I'm not. I'm just friends with Yugi and Anzu," Jounouchi was smart enough to keep quiet about Honda. Hopefully Kaiba didn't even remember him.

A ping rang from Kaiba's cell phone. He glanced at it, then turned back to the blonde.

"Our doctor is waiting for you. I guess that's enough questions for now. We'll discuss the new rules later."

"...New rules?"

Instead of answering, Kaiba stood up and pulled Jounouchi off the couch. Kaiba's hand trailed down to meet Jounouchi's, cupping it in his grasp. Jounouchi's cheeks burned.

Kaiba led him through a few doors until they reached what looked like a doctor's office. Jounouchi shouldn't be too surprised to see that Kaiba had something like this in his own house. He was the richest teenager in Japan, after all. Still, the blonde's eyes widened at the strange sight before him.

"We'll talk about it later," Kaiba whispered.

The doctor silently placed Jounouchi on the chair, then proceeded to care for him. This doctor didn't smile or say anything to Jounouchi. He was effecient, but he had none of the friendly demeanor of Anzu's friend.

A few hours later, Jounouchi rested his head against the pillow, but sleep wouldn't come. He hadn't seen Mokuba since before the whole ordeal with Honda. Kaiba had wanted to give his youngest brother some time to adjust before showing him that Jounouchi had a broken nose. Kaiba must've really liked protecting Mokuba emotionally as well as physically.

Thoughts of Yugi filled his head. Surely Yugi was alright, wasn't he? If he had been hurt, then Jounouchi would've found out somehow...

Right?

The blonde shifted his weight on the bed, but that failed to make him any more comfortable. Jounouchi couldn't get to sleep until he could put his worries to rest. Yugi was no longer on his contacts, and he hadn't memorized his number, so Jounouchi couldn't call him. Maybe Kaiba had access to the Kami Shop number. He didn't care how late it was. Jounouchi needed to make the call just to be sure that Yugi got back home safely.

He swung off the bed and headed toward the door. But the handle wouldn't budge. Jounouchi found this odd, as throughout the days of living as a Kaiba, never had his bedroom door been locked. There was no switch to unlock it from the inside, something that Jounouchi hadn't found odd until now. Meaning that someone must've used a key to lock it as a way to prevent him from leaving.

Jounouchi pounded on the door with a hasty few thuds. After a while he figured that no one would come to his rescue, so he went to his desk and took out his phone. Kaiba answered on the second ring.

"What is it, Katsuya?"

"Hey, why's the door locked?"

A short pause.

"You've just now noticed that, did you?" Kaiba responded. He sounded half amused and half disappointed. Jounouchi fiddled with the bridge of his nose. The gesture had gotten to be a tick for him, something to do whenever he was bored, or when he wanted to distract himself from the situation at hand.

"I was trying to leave so that I can talk to you. And-"

"Well, you can talk to me now."

"That's not the point."

"Then do enlighten me, Katsuya," Kaiba's voice was low, "What is the point here? As far as I see it, you don't need to be anywhere else in the world right now except in your room. It's past midnight and you should be asleep. Now we're talking on the phone and you asking me why your door is locked? Because you don't need to leave. You have a bathroom if you need it. You have access to drinks if that's what's bothering there. There's literally no reason for you to leave."

"There's no reason for me to be trapped either."

"I begged a differ."

At Kaiba's hard tone, Jounouchi forced himself to relax. Nothing would be accomplished if they escalated to yelling.

"Is this part of those new rules?"

"Right. We forgot to establish those after you got treated. I suppose I'll take the blame for that. I hadn't realized something would come up, so for that I apologize."

But Jounouchi wasn't appeased. If anything it was getting harder to control his ever rising temper.

"Seriously, Kaiba. What the hell? I'm 16 years old and you're locking me up like a princess. I should be able to leave my own room if I want to."

"Stop calling me Kaiba," a dangerous edge traced at the brunette's voice, "You're just doing it to annoy me. I know you are, Katsuya. Now listen to me. I'll go over the new rules so you can sleep on them. And that's the first rule, to address me properly. Do you understand? Or do I need to keep repeating myself until it gets through that thick skull of yours?"

"Yes," Jounouchi bit his lip out of anger.

"Yes, what?"

Right now it was difficult to remember why Jounouchi had ever developed a crush on his asshole. Jounouchi clutched onto the phone so hard he was surprised it hadn't snapped in half.

"Yes, ni-san."

"Good. Second, you will bring home good grades. If I see anything lower than a 90 percent, there will be hell to pay. Third, at school you will stick close to me at all times. No running around trying to befriend a bunch of punks."

"What are you, my body guard?"

But Kaiba ignored the interjection, "Fourth, you will be accompanied by someone whenever you're out of the house. I'm shocked I have to place this rule down, but until you stop getting into fights, you will not have the freedom you're used to. And lastly, about this Yugi you keep mentioning."

Jounouchi felt his heart stop.

"What about him?"

"I'm going to invite him over for dinner tomorrow."

"Why?"

"Why not?" Kaiba challenged, "He's the first friend I've ever seen you talk about. So my curiosity is peaked on what's so special about him. I want him here tomorrow evening, so you should invite him during school. I will see for myself what he's like."

"You know what he's like. You duel him all the time."

The silence that followed stretched on for almost half a minute. Finally, Kaiba responded with a bitter tone.

"I have never dueled a guy named Yugi in my life. That's another rule I'll be adding. Stop pretending like things happen when they didn't. I will not have a brother pretend he's crazy for the sake of getting attention. Now go back to bed. I'm busy right now and can't spend any more time discussing this."

He hung up without saying goodbye. Jounouchi stared at the phone in his hands, wondering how Yugi could be the King of Games if Kaiba had never dueled him.

Unless, Yugi wasn't the King of Games in this universe.


	6. Chapter 6

"Ni-san. People are staring," Jounouchi spoke in a high-pitched voice in order to entice the brunette to laugh.

Kaiba smiled at Jounouchi's remark, although the grin was forced. It seemed he didn't want to be reminded of the broken nose.

"Then look away," he instructed simply. And that was the end of the conversation. No hint of laughter anywhere. His joke rejected, Jounouchi had little choice but to quietly follow the CEO inside the school.

When Kaiba told him that he was going to keep Jounouchi close, he hadn't been kidding. The man was practically a second skin. Kaiba kept turning his head to make sure Jounouchi was still following. Whenever Jounouchi had fallen too far behind, Kaiba would stop and let him catch up. Jounouchi wasn't allowed to be too many yards away. Kaiba would even followed Jounouchi to the bathroom.

Jounouchi breathed out a sigh of relief once they were in class. At least sitting down with Kaiba wouldn't seem so...creepy. It was easier to ignore how clingy Kaiba was this way.

People came flooding into the room, Yugi and Anzu included. Jounouchi smiled. Yugi looked fine. Whatever happened with those weird guys couldn't have been that bad. Yugi glanced his way, then whispered something to Anzu. She looked in Jounouchi's direction, causing the blonde to tense up. The two seemed nervous.

Jounouchi felt his heart sink. It was clear that they were still on their guard when it came to him. And that was heartbreaking. What could Jounouchi do to let them give him a chance at friendship?

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Jounouchi asked. He had felt Kaiba's eyes boring on the back of his head this entire time.

"Where else am I supposed to look? I'm sitting right behind you."

Jounouchi didn't have a counter argument for that. After a few minutes passed, he realized that Honda was missing. He reached for his nose without a second thought, worry sinking in his chest. What was Honda going to do for money? Could he even afford food anymore? And where even was he?

Jounouchi wanted to chew Kaiba out for what he did. But if he did that, then Kaiba would puzzle out what happened with Jounouchi's nose.

And call him biased, but Jounouchi couldn't be too angry with the brunette. Kaiba's overprotectiveness might be extreme, but it was still a form of love. Jounouchi knew Kaiba was capable of horrific things to anyone who hurt Mokuba. In this universe, Jounouchi got the same treatment. It was simply how Kaiba was.

Of course, Jounouchi still planned to help Honda out, whether or not Kaiba approved. There had to be something Jounouchi could do. There just had to be.

The teacher came into the room with as much make-up as ever. She was one of those instructors that demanded respect, whether or not she actually earned it. She wrote out a math problem on the board. She turned to the class.

"Someone do this problem. How about you, Kastuya Kaiba?"

Jounouchi froze. He looked at the problem from his seat, and could already tell there was no way he could do it. A finger tapped him from behind.

"Hurry up and get up there," Kaiba said, lightly.

Everyone was looking at him now. Jounouchi suddenly felt very nervous and insecure. Everyone was going to find out he was a fraud.

"Will you get up here?" the teacher angrily demanded. She was a lot less patient than Kaiba.

Yugi and Anzu stared at him like he was a freak. Jounouchi heard Kaiba growl.

"Katsuya."

That was warning enough. Gulping, Jounouchi went up and took the chalk. He pressed the chalk against the board and paused. He kept his eyes glued to the problem in hopes that he would figure out what to do.

But he didn't even know how to start this problem. A few snickers erupted after a while of Jounouchi just standing in place. The teacher stamped her foot.

"Are you sick or something? This problem should be easy for you. Or are you going to fail on purpose like you did with the quiz?"

"He failed the quiz?" someone asked.

Jounouchi turned to see that Kaiba's face had lost all its color. The teacher must've had a bad day, and had decided to take it out on one of her students. She did it many times before. Jounouchi had been unfortunate enough to be her target today.

The blonde handed the chalk back to her, then went to his seat in silence. People continued to snicker. Yugi and Anzu are whispering to each other while looking in his direction. Were they making fun of him? Jounouchi's face heated up in shame.

The worst part was the fact that he knew he had disappointed Kaiba.

Time passed slowly after that. It took an hour for his stung pride to even begin to recover. When the lunch bell rang, all the students stood up. Jounouchi looked at Yugi and Anzu.

"Are you going to ask him now?" Kaiba asked.

Jounouchi remembered the dinner that Kaiba had planned.

"I don't think I'm ready..."

He was glad that Kaiba didn't pressure him. Instead, the brunette nodded in understanding.

"You can ask him after school then," he took his suitcase, "Let's go eat on the roof."

Hearing this perked Jounouchi up a little. Eating lunch with Kaiba had become his favorite part of school. Kaiba didn't call him a zoo animal in this reality. It was the perfect way to spend time with his new older brother.

But what was Kaiba going to say about math class? The thought kept Jounouchi's feet glued to the floor. The brunette had made his way out the door, before he realized that Jounouchi wasn't following. He stopped, gave Jounouchi a look, and waited for the blonde to catch up.

Jounouchi could handle the teacher's scolding and his classmates' ridicule. But one thing he couldn't deal with was the defeaning silence from Kaiba. It was a thousand times worse than when Kaiba openly mocked him. It was clear that Kaiba was upset. Why wasn't he saying anything about it?

As they ate on the rooftop, Jounouchi snuck glances in the CEO's direction. Kaiba's face showed no emotion. He didn't even look at Jounouchi. He simply ate his meal in silence, as if nothing was wrong with the world.

Jounouchi couldn't stand it a second longer.

"Aren't you going to talk to me?"

"What's to talk about?" Kaiba asked. He still wasn't looking at him.

Jounouchi placed his bento on the ground.

"Look. I know you're upset. But I'm telling you, I really didn't know the answer. I'm not as good with math as you think I am. I need you to help me with this stuff. Teach me to get better grades."

Kaiba swallowed before meeting Jounouchi's eyes. Now Jounouchi could detect a soft bit of annoyance in his features.

"You want me to tutor you," it wasn't a question. It sounded more like an accusation.

"Yeah."

The CEO took a swig of his tea. As his throat bobbed up and down while he gulped, Jounouchi found himself staring at his neck. A strong feeling stirred in the pit of his stomach. Every day it was getting harder and harder to deny it. He wanted Kaiba. He wanted to be with him. And he wanted to be loved by him in an unbrotherly way.

Kaiba's voice distracted him from this unnerving thought.

"Now I see what you're trying to. That's pretty childish of you, Katsuya."

His words took the blonde by surprise.

"Eh-what?"

To Jounouchi's shock, Kaiba sent him a small smile. He held onto Jounouchi's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. It was probably meant to reassure Jounouchi in some way. But the tender touch left Jounouchi with a very different feeling. He hoped the brunette didn't notice.

"It all makes sense now," Kaiba told him, "I remember that fight we had a few weeks ago. I remember what you said to me then. So this is what you've decided to do? You fail your classes to get an excuse for us to spend time together."

Jounouchi was too stunned to answer right away. The hand on his shoulder withdrew so that Kaiba could slap his own forehead. He was still smiling, but now it was full of aggravation. It looked like Kaiba was trying to squash a very bad headache out of his brain.

"Just...just give me some more time," Kaiba pleaded, "I know work has kept me from doing our usual things. But I promise that eventually, I'll have more time for you and Mokuba."

"You got it all wrong. I would never..."

Kaiba stared at him so intently that he trailed off. Confused, Kaiba asked, "Why else are you behaving the way you are? What are you trying to make happen?" A wave of displeasure crossed his face, "Are you just making me worry to make me miserable?"

"Of course not!"

"Somehow, I'm having trouble believing you," Kaiba gazed at the ground. Suddenly he didn't look too hungry anymore.

Jounouchi grabbed Kaiba by his shoulders. Kaiba stared bewildered, his blue eyes widening like gemstones. Jounouchi felt his cheeks threaten to blush. That was the cutest expression he had ever seen Kaiba make.

But now was not the time to gush.

"Kaiba, I don't want you to ever think I would make you suffer on purpose. You gotta believe that. Sure we fight sometimes. A few punches here or there," or at least Jounouchi did the punching. Kaiba usually just threw him off, "But don't think I would ever do something like that to you. Deep down I..."

Wow. He better stop himself right there. Jounouchi realized that he was about to go into forbidden territory.

Meanwhile, Kaiba just sat there frozen in place. His face seemed to have turned pink, or maybe Jounouchi was imagining things. Only when the blonde decided to let go did Kaiba respond.

"I don't remember us ever fistfighting, Katsuya."

Jounouchi froze up. Kaiba studied him, this time concerned.

"Do you...actually believe the things you're saying happened? I thought you were just trying to get attention. But maybe something is wrong with you. Maybe that's the real reason you keep spouting off nonsense. Katsuya, tell me. Do you feel alright? You're not...taking drugs, are you?"

Jounouchi shook his head. That question didn't even deserve an audible response. The blonde scolded himself for his stupidity. If he didn't start shaping up, everyone in this universe would think he was crazy.

Kaiba seemed to realize that Jounouchi was insulted. But instead of apologizing, the brunette held up his food. The worry never left his face. But he still had it in him to give Jounouchi a stern look.

"That's good. But quite it with calling me Kaiba. If I said it once, I said it a thousand times."

And that was when Jounouchi knew to drop the subject altogether.

* * *

When school ended, Jounouchi found himself in the locker room. Kaiba stuck to his side like a clingy girlfriend, evidentially still worried that Jounouchi was going to run off and get himself hurt again. The brunette silently nodded to the blonde, a sure sign of encouragement. Jounochi took in a sharp breath, then walked over to Yugi and Anzu.

"Hey...uh...guys..." how did Katsuya Kaiba normally address them?

His friendly nature shocked them both. Yugi recovered just when Anzu was about to say something. He beat her to it.

"Hello, Katsuya-san," Yugi smiled in a way that he reserved for people he wasn't quite comfortable with, "Did you need something?"

Jounouchi sheepishly put his hand at the back of his head and offered his sincerest smile.

"Uh...well...my brother and I were wondering...I mean...Do you guys wanna have dinner with us? You know...if you don't have any plans..." by the way he was stammering, he sounded like he was on trial, "Um...we got games."

Yugi and Anzu exchanged nervous glances. Jounouchi felt short of breath, as if he really was standing in a court of law, and they were ready to sentence him for life. Finally Yugi turned to him.

"Sure. I guess that's alright. I gotta call my grandpa."

"If Yugi's going, then I will too," Anzu stated. She looked at Jounouchi, "How's your nose, by the way?"

Jounouchi couldn't believe his ears. They actually said yes? His heart rose with hope. The blonde immediately began chatting them up with a wide smile on his face.

The two fished through their home shoes and followed him outside. Kaiba kept right at their heels, yet remained far enough away to give them a little privacy. That didn't stop Yugi and Anzu from looking nervous. His stalking even unnerved Jounouchi.

They got into the limo when Jounouchi remembered. He turned to his tri-haired (friend? Were they on the friendship level yet?).

"I saw you out with some weird looking guys, Yug. What did they want?"

Yugi frowned, "When did you see that, Katsuya-san?"

"The other day," Jounouchi went on to explain what they had looked like. Anzu frowned. She was clearly just hearing about this now. Yugi shuffled in his feet uncomfortably.

"Oh. They just wanted directions somewhere."

Why didn't Jounouchi believe him? And more importantly, why was Yugi keeping it a secret? He didn't dare to press the matter for fear that Yugi would resent him. It was a miracle they even agreed to have dinner at all.

"So, Yugi," Kaiba piped in. It was the first time he said anything since the two accepted Jounouchi's invite, "My brother tells me that you are quite the duelist."

Yugi's brows nearly shot up to the roof.

"Oh? Duel Monsters? I mean...I'm not that good," he smiled as he eased himself into the discussion, "My grandpa owns a game shop. And he's got this really rare card. It was given to him by a friend."

Jounouchi blinked at this. No...Yugi couldn't possibly be talking about...

"Rare card, huh?" Kaiba smirked in amusement, "I'm always looking for those. How much is he asking for?"

Yugi shook his head, "He wouldn't trade it for the world. It's a symbol of friendship for him."

"Hmm...Symbol of friendship? That's nice," it was clear from Kaiba's tone that he thought it was a stupid thing to say. He didn't seemed to suspect that the card was worth arguing over.

Jounouchi suddenly pulled Yugi closer in order to whisper in his ear.

"Hey...You're not talking about the...Blue Eyes White Dragon," he looked at Kaiba to make sure he wasn't listening. The brunette frowned at him, but it was obvious he didn't hear what he had said, "Are you?"

Yugi threw his head back in shock. He looked at Jounouchi as if he had just performed some sort of miracle.

"How did you know?" he exclaimed loud enough for the others to hear. Both Kaiba and Anzu looked at them questionably.

Jounouchi made sure to keep his voice as low as possible.

"You can't let my brother know, okay?" he whispered.

Yugi blinked at him in obvious confusion. His purple eyes seemed to study him for a while. Then Yugi nodded to let Jounouchi know that he understood.

Jounouchi couldn't believe his luck. He had just single-handedly prevented Yugi's grandpa from being hospitalized. And his favorite card could live on without being torn apart. Jounouchi realized that he had a lot of power over how this universe played out.

But one thing still bothered him. Why hadn't Kaiba found out about the Blue Eyes yet? And why hadn't he dueled Yugi? It was as if a simple change in who Jounouchi was related to had made everything topsy-turvy. Honda was an outcast. Yugi didn't wear the puzzle. And Jounouchi was apparently friendless.

The car pulled to a stop. Yugi took in the huge mansion with awe. Anzu, having already seen it, wasn't as impressed. Kaiba offered them his most polite smile.

"Thank you for joining us. Katsuya wouldn't stop nagging me until I let him ask you guys."

The others were startled by this, Jounouchi included.

"He did?" Anzu glanced in his direction.

Why would Kaiba lie like that? Jounouchi suddenly felt short of breath, but he didn't want to tell them no. So he tried not to react at all.

The servants opened the door for them, as if they had been waiting their arrival. Kaiba motioned them to follow him inside. As the guests looked around the room, Yugi kept looking back at Jounouchi.

Jounouchi shuffled his feet. He had a bad feeling he knew why Yugi was looking at him. The tri-haired boy still thought he was crazy. He was just waiting for Jounouchi to screw up and say something that sounded insane to the rest of them.

...But if Yugi really thought that, then why did he come with Jounouchi in the first place? Jounouchi knew Yugi and Anzu enough to know that they had hearts of gold. Maybe they really were giving him a chance.

The guests continued to marvel at the room as they sat down in the dining hall. Mokuba found his seat, staring wide eyed at the two other students. Kaiba set out to explain.

"Mokuba. Say hi to Yugi and Anzu. Katsuya tells me they're his closest friends."

Yugi and Anzu glanced in Jounochi's direction, one looking confused and the other looking miffed. The blonde kept his eyes on his plate. He was too afraid to say anything now.

"Ni-san's friends?" Mokuba seemed excited, "That's cool. I don't even have those."

Anzu gasped, "What do you mean?"

Mokuba shrugged.

"Well, oni-san doesn't make much friends. And I didn't think ni-san did either. So I didn't."

Anzu didn't say anything to that, but her crestfallen face spoke volumns. Yugi spoke for her.

"That's no good. I don't have many friends either. Just Anzu. In fact, I even plan on wishing for some more friends."

Kaiba had just been about to place some food in his mouth. He froze the moment he heard the W word.

"Wish?" asked the skeptic. Jounouchi prayed that Kaiba stayed nice and polite. He didn't need Kaiba's smart ass attitude to ruin his only chance at friendship.

Fortunately, Yugi didn't notice that the brunette was silently ridiculing him. He pulled out something from his bag. When Jounouchi realized what it was, he nearly fell out of his seat. The golden box that held the puzzle before. Yugi opened it, revealing the pieces scattered inside.

What was going on?

"That's quite the treasure you have," Kaiba said.

"Wow. Is it real gold?" Mokuba asked.

Yugi held up two pieces with a bright smile on his face.

"My grandpa got it for me years ago, after a long exhibition. He said that if I finished the puzzle, I could make a wish on it, and it will come true. But it's strange. I've been working on it for eight years. And I haven't made any progress. It's almost like it has some sort of spell preventing me from finishing it."

Everyone took in this information in silence. Everyone, except Jounouchi.

"You finished that a long time ago," his voice was as insistent as it was aggravated. He was tired of this world not making sense.

Kaiba gave him a dark look. Everyone else seemed uneasy. Jounouchi ignored the warning and pointed at the box.

"You did. You finished it and met the spirit inside. You called him Yami because he's your dark side."

Now Yugi looked a little scared.

"I...I don't know what you're talking about, Katsuya-san."

Jounouchi wanted to punch everybody. None of this made any sense. How did him being Kaiba's brother affect the puzzle in any way? He couldn't believe that it did. He wouldn't believe it.

"Yami. He helped you duel. He's the pharaoh that lived in the puzzle until you let him out. You know? To trade bodies and stuff-"

"Trade bodies?" Anzu nearly shouted in her shock.

"-You guys talked with some sort of mind reading powers. You had a spiritual bond. And then he left to go rule Egypt."

"Katsuya," Kaiba warned.

"That all happened!" insisted the blonde.

Clank! The plates jumped as Kaiba pounded the table with his fist. Now instead of being nervous about Jounouchi, the guests looked worried about what the CEO would do. With a sigh, the brunette stood up.

"Come to the other room with me," he growled.

Jounouchi glanced at the other three in the room. From the looks they were giving him, it was clear that they all thought he was crazy.

He really needed to keep his mouth shut sometimes. Jounouchi followed Kaiba out of the room, bracing himself for the rant he knew the CEO had in store for him.


	7. Chapter 7

Kaiba waited until they were in a room several doors away from the dining area. Once Jounouchi was inside, the brunette closed the door shut, trapping the two in a room Jounouchi had never seen before. It looked to be a guest room of some sort. This house was so huge, that there were still plenty of places Jounouchi had not yet seen.

"What was that?" Kaiba asked.

By this point, Jounouchi had calmed down, and now he was mentally strangling himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now no one could doubt that he was crazy. Yugi had made it obvious from the beginning that he hadn't met Yami yet, and what did Jounouchi do? Insist that it was possible for a phantom pharaoh to trade bodies with someone. If Yugi hadn't been exposed to it, of course he wouldn't believe such a thing could happen.

Kaiba stared at the blonde, still waiting for an answer.

"I was just kidding," Jounouchi lied. It was a stupid lie, but it was all he got, "You know how friends joke around sometimes. I was teasing him."

Kaiba didn't believe him. It was clear from the look on his face. The brunette tilted his scowl to the floor, his eyes deep in thought. Then he looked back at Jounouchi.

"I think I finally understand. That Yugi talks about 'wishing for friendship' and 'magical puzzles.' I bet you've been talking to him for a while," Kaiba's eyes lit up as if he was struck by an epiphany, "That's it. He's filled your head with hocus pocus and now you're confused."

This time Jounouchi was looking at Kaiba like he was the one saying ridiculous things. Yugi made him crazy? That was the story that Kaiba planned on telling himself?

Not on Jounouchi's watch.

"You're trying to say that Yugi's a bad influence or something? That's nuts. He's the most harmless guy on the planet."

"Kastuya. You were just talking about a ghost playing duel monsters."

"But Yugi didn't...I mean..." Jounouchi stumbled over his words, the idiocy of this conversation making him unable to express himself probably.

"Kastuya," Kaiba looked him in the eye in the way a parent would whenever they were laying down some ground rules, "I think you should reconsider your friendship with him."

 _Don't lash out. That'll only make it worse._

With this inner advice, Jounouchi forced himself to calm down before replying.

"Friendship isn't something you just break of, oni-san," Jounouchi patted himself on the back for remembering how he was supposed to address Kaiba.

"Why not?"

"It's too special. My friends are important to me."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

"More important than family?"

Jounouchi was taken aback, "What? Are you trying to make me choose between you and him?"

"Not at all. I just want to make sure your priorities are in order. Your friends haven't been there for you your whole life. I have."

The blonde nearly lost his breath. Kaiba's love for him shone in those few simple sentences, making Jounouchi feel adored like never before. Jounouchi could barely suppress a smile. If only his crush would've meant those words in a non-brotherly way. But Jounouchi would take what he could get.

Kaiba seemed to notice a change in Jounouchi's attitude. His expression softened considerably.

"No more nonsense talk. You can still have dinner with your 'friends.' But I don't want to hear anything else about magic, okay?"

Jounouchi agreed, happy to be free from this conversation. Kaiba led him back to the dinning table where the others were waiting. Yugi offered Jounouchi a patient smile, while Anzu seemed ready to leave. She kept glancing at the blonde with fear in her eyes, as if she was afraid he would attack like a mad dog.

The rest of the dinner passed by without anyone saying much. Yugi had put his puzzle away. Jounouchi could tell just how tense the smaller teen was as they sat next to each other.

Later that night, Jounouchi found the opportunity to pull Yugi away from the rest of the group. Now the two stood face to face in what looked to be a small library.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. I didn't mean anything I said. I was just kidding," Jounouchi lied.

Yugi inspected his face for sincerity, before the side of his lip tilted to a half smile. The smaller teen was obviously still unnerved, but the kindness hadn't left his eyes yet.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have talked to you about all that wishing stuff. I need to keep in mind that some people are skeptical about it. I can tell why you were joking around with me."

Yugi thought he had been making fun of him. Jounouchi immediately scrambled for something to say.

"It's not like that. I believe you. Really, I do. I just got carried away. I would never insult you."

Yugi paused for a moment, glancing at Jounouchi with intent. His purple eyes were trying to stare through Jounouchi's body to see the truth. Finally, Yugi nodded with a smile, and a sincere one at that.

"You know. I believe you, Katsuya-san. Here, I'll give you my phone number."

As Yugi dug into his pocket for his cell, Jounouchi wanted to jump for joy. No, scratch that. He wanted to grow wings spontaneously and fly for joy.

But when Yugi pulled out his phone, something else fell out. Jounouchi retrieved it from the floor. He froze when he saw what it was. A wad of cash that had been rolled up. Nothing too weird, except for how much of it there was. There could be no less than 5,000 yen in this small wad. That was an unusual amount for Yugi to carry, especially when the money wasn't even in his wallet.

The tri-color haired boy snatched the money. Yugi tried to laugh it off, but the damage was done. Jounouchi stared at him.

"Yugi. Is there some reason-"

Yugi thrusted the phone into his hands. He shot Jounouchi a look that shut the blonde up.

"Please just put me in your contacts."

Jounouchi knew at that moment that pressing the matter would push his good luck. Silently, Jounouchi entered Yugi's information in his own phone, then gave Yugi back his.

The two smiled at each other, both half awkwardly. As happy as Jounouchi was, he was still worried. He had a bad feeling that money had something to do with those weirdos Yugi had been talking to before.

The door threw itself open. A frowning Kaiba strode inside with blue eyes boring at Jounouchi. Upon noticing Yugi in the room, Kaiba flashed a false, polite smile.

"I couldn't find you two. You had me worried."

It seemed that the CEO was still intent on keeping Jounouchi close. Kaiba was already by his side, glancing at Yugi with caution. It was as if he was a chaperone instead of a brother.

Anzu came inside. Yugi, visisbly relieved, waved her over.

"Hey. I just gave Katsuya-kun my number."

Kaiba seemed to tense up when he heard this. Or maybe that was just Jounouchi's imagination. Anzu pulled out her own cell phone.

"Okay. I guess I'll add you to my contacts too. If that's okay with you, Katsuya-san."

Jounouchi looked at Kaiba. The brunette seemed like he wanted to say something, but some strange force was keeping him from uttering a word. Jounouchi handed her his cell phone so that she could push in the information.

The blonde had gotten two of his friends back in one day. Anzu gave him his smartphone back and Jounouchi practically craddled it. This was a symbol of friendship.

Yugi looked at the clock on his phone.

"I'm sorry, you guys. But I think it's about time we head out."

"Don't apologize. We're happy you came," Kaiba smiled in relief. He seemed more happy about the fact that the two were leaving than the two actually being here.

Yugi bid Jounouchi one final goodbye before heading out the door. Anzu paused at the doorway and stared at the blonde in silence. Something about her expression seemed conflicted. Jounouchi knew that she was still on the fence with trusting him. She probably only gave him her number because Yugi did. There was no doubt a lot she would have said if Kaiba hadn't been watching.

The look was a warning. Don't let her down. Don't let her regret being friends with Jounouchi. Somehow, Jounouchi could read all of that in that one little expression. The girl finally left and Mokuba breathed out a sigh of relief.

"They were kind of weird."

He meant no offense, but it irked Jounochi anyway. The youngest brother noticed his displeasure and tried to appease him.

"I meant weird in a good way," Mokuba insisted to Jounouchi, "I want weird friends too. Maybe oni-san and I can get a few now."

Did Mokuba really not have friends of his own? Jounouchi would've expected something like that from Kaiba, but not from him.

But now that Jounouchi thought about it, he'd never really seen Mokuba playing with kids his age. Maybe he was more like his brother than Jounouchi realized.

Kaiba inspected Mokuba.

"Well, make sure your friends are a good influence."

Jounouchi looked at him, "Are you trying to say something about my friends?"

His scowl was harsh, but Kaiba only took that as a challenge. He returned the ugly look with much more force. Kaiba had a way of pinning someone down with nothing more than direct eye contact. Still, Jounouchi refused to show weakness.

Kaiba arched up his nose with a lopsided smile.

"I'm simply giving our little brother much needed advice, Katsuya. No need to make a huge deal out of my words. You're entirely too sensitive."

Mokuba tugged Jounouchi's arm, "Can we go play?"

The blonde allowed the kid to drag him away. Jounouchi bit his bottom lip to from saying anything else to Kaiba. It didn't matter what Kaiba thought. Jounouchi had won. He had two of his friends back.

Now he needed to focus on Honda.

Mokuba took Jounouchi to his own room. There were several practice decks for them to pick at random. Jounouchi was impressed by the selection. Kaiba could really spoil Mokuba sometimes.

Despite his love for duel monsters, Jounouchi was only half invested in the game. Playing with Mokuba made him think about Shizuka. He wondered how he could find her in this universe. Since he was Kaiba's brother now, it was only logical to conclude he wasn't hers.

But that didn't mean they couldn't still hang out. Jounouchi liked being close to Kaiba, but he also wanted the relationships he had grown accustomed to. He wanted to find Shizuka and befriend her. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, she'd come to see him as a brother.

Another thought plagued Jounouchi. How long did he want this wish to last? He was sure that eventually, he would go back to his own universe. The question had never been of if but of when. But the longer he stayed here, the harder it was to convince himself to go to the store. Kaiba might be overprotective, but in some ways Jounouchi actually liked that. It was definately better than having Kaiba hate his guts.

"Ni-san. Pay attention."

"I am," Jounouchi insisted.

Mokuba glared, "Then why are you trying to use Cyber Soldier like a magic card?"

Jounouchi looked down at where he placed his card.

"I was putting it in attack mode," he argued feebly.

"How?" asked Mokuba, "It's a five star monster and you don't have anything on the field to sacrifice."

The blonde had nothing to say in response. He had been caught. Giving up, Jounouchi placed his hand on the table and rubbed his aching temples.

"Sorry, Mokuba. I guess I'm a little out of it today."

Mokuba's bottom lip formed a small pout.

"You've been out of it for a while. When are you going to act normal again?"

Jounouchi's headache only worsened when he heard these words. He wanted nothing more than lie on the bed and be quiet for the rest of the night. He might be coming up with a migraine. It was stressful having everyone in the world think you're insane.

"Is everything alright, you two?" Kaiba's voice came from behind Jounouchi. The brunette seemed to have just entered the room and, upon looking at the expression of his two little brothers, grew concerned. For once, there wasn't his usual work suitcase in his hand. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even dressed for work, instead wearing a simple T-shirt and baggy jeans.

Jounouchi had never seen him dress so casually before. He wished he had a camera. Kaiba looked so cute. So...normal. How adorable.

"Everything's fine," Mokuba responded in a tone that suggested otherwise. He was still pouting.

Kaiba and Jounouchi exchanged glances. The brunette offered the blonde a reassuring smile, silently promising that he could put Mokuba in better spirits.

"I see. Well, you two will be happy to know that I finally have the evening off. And my bones are aching."

Mokuba jumped out of his seat with an excited smile on his face.

"Yay! We can use the bath again," the child exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" Jounouchi asked, "We bathe all the time."

Kaiba smirked, "I see you haven't lost your sense of humor, Katsuya. Come on, you two. Let's go."

Unsure of what else to do, Jounouchi followed the two through a passage he had yet to see. The hallway led to a downstairs. As Jounouchi descended the steps, the air became warmer. It only took a few seconds to find out why.

The way led to a sauna. It looked like a hot springs in the fanciest Japanese style hotel. And it was right in Kaiba's own house. It had even been decorated to look like a natural spring, with polished rocks everywhere and a small garden off to the side.

Jounouchi's eyes were wide in order to take in the wonders he saw. He knew Kaiba was fancy, but holy crap. This was a whole other level of the word.

The blonde happened to look at the other two, and did a double take when he saw them pulling off their clothes.

"Guys! What the hell are you doing?"

Mokuba was already undressed and walking into the water. He wasn't the problem for Jounouchi. The problem was Kaiba, who had taken off his shirt in front of the blonde. Tried as he might, Jounouchi couldn't quite take his eyes off those abs. How did a guy who worked in an office all day stay so ripped? He must be working out in his spare time.

Kaiba arched a brow.

"It's nothing you haven't seen before. We do this all the time," his blue eyes narrowed. He seemed to notice that Jounouchi was oogling like a fanboy, "We're brothers, right?"

It wasn't entirely strange. It was socially acceptable to bathe together in a public bath, so long as you didn't make it weird. But that was the thing. Jounouchi was expected to bathe with Kaiba, of all people. It was impossible for Jounouchi not to make it weird. It was the equivalent of asking him to bathe with a sexy woman.

Kaiba approached him. He fiddled with Jounouchi's collar, a frown forming on his lips.

"Hurry up and undress. I want to hang out with you two, and who knows when I'll get a chance like this again. I'm going into the bath now. And I expect you to be right behind me. Stop acting like we haven't done this a thousand times before."

Kaiba was taking off his pants. Kaiba was taking off his pants! Jounouchi tore his eyes away so he didn't see anything, his cheeks were hotter than the water itself. He looked back after he heard the other walk into the bath. To his relief (and, perhaps, slight disappointment) the water reached Kaiba's waist, covering anything inappropriate.

Mokuba splashed around like it was a pool. He smiled up at his older brother. Jounouchi felt like a pervert for watching this. But worse than that, he felt like an outcast. He wasn't really a Kaiba. Who knew how often Mokuba and Kaiba got to spend time together? And now Jounouchi had forced his way between them. Suddenly the blonde felt guilty for ever being jealous of their relationship.

"Are you coming?" Kaiba asked.

Jounouchi just stared, causing the brunette to glare.

"Katsuya."

Despite the warning, Jounouchi still didn't move a muscle.

"Fine," Kaiba said, "Then I'll drag you here myself."

The CEO motioned that he was about to stand up. Jounouchi's heart flew into his throat.

"Wait, I'm coming!" he knew his cheeks must be brick red by now.

Kaiba sat back down. Jounouchi took that opportunity to slow his heartrate.

 _Just pretend that you're all actually brothers_ , he told himself.

Jounouchi turned around, took a deep breath, and pulled off his shirt. He gulped, wishing he didn't feel eyes on him.

 _Do it like a band-aid._

As he practically ripped off his pants, he heard Mokuba giggle to himself. Jounouchi got into the water, happy that it covered him somewhat.

Kaiba was looking at him like he had grown a second head. Fortunately, he kept his mouth shut. The brunette closed his eyes and lied against a decorative rock. Mokuba continued to splash around. Clearly he didn't care about relaxing as much as he cared about having fun with his older brothers.

"I was beating ni-san at duel monsters," Mokuba suddenly announced.

Kaiba kept his eyes closed.

"Hmm."

The brunette suddenly looked very tired. Jounouchi had a feeling that running a company at the age of 18 wasn't exactly easy. Kaiba was probably a person that, as soon as he relaxed, could drop into a hundred year nap.

Jounouchi smiled. The guy really did worked himself to death, didn't he?

The blonde refused to acknowledge to himself that he and Kaiba were both naked. It made things a million times easier that way.

Meanwhile Mokuba seemed intent on starting a conversation.

"He tried to use Cyber Soldier like a magic card."

Without opening his eyes, Kaiba responded with, "You know he's like that sometimes. He can pretend to be stupid if he wants to."

"Can you guys not talk about me like I'm not here?" Jounouchi grumbled.

Mokuba smiled at him. Even Kaiba opened one eyelid and send him a grin. Their remarks were all in jest, nothing more than friendly banter between brothers.

Jounouchi couldn't be upset for long. He dared to sit closer to Kaiba, ignoring how his heart fluttered. As awkward as this felt, Jounouchi was still enjoying himself. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined spending time with Kaiba like this.

He nearly cried out when Kaiba scooted closer. They were centimeters away from touching. Jounouchi swallowed a mouthful of air. Fortunately, Kaiba didn't notice that the blonde was losing his cool.

"I'm glad to be here, Katsuya. It's been a long time. Maybe we can duel after this?"

Jounouchi was touched.

"You really want to duel me?"

"Of course."

"You'll probably win," if this had been the other reality, there would've been no way in hell that Jounouchi would admit this.

"Maybe. But you've been getting better every time we play. I'm glad to have you around, Katsuya. You make a good opponent."

Holy mother of goodness. Did Kaiba really just compliment his dueling abilities?

Jounouchi felt like a loyal dog who had just been praised by his master. He couldn't keep the grin from spreading on his face. He even chuckled a bit out of sheer happiness. Kaiba joined in the laughter.

"You seem to be in a good mood."

"I'm just glad to be here with you is all," Jounouchi answered.

Kaiba looked at him.

"I am too."

The two smiled at each other. However, Kaiba's smile diminished somewhat when he looked deeper into Jounouchi's eyes. He forced a cough.

"Well, you are my brother, after all," the brunette stated.

Jounouchi frowned.


	8. Chapter 8

Jounouchi found himself in the Kaiba library. Kaiba had once again lectured him over another bad grade in math, and Jounouchi had a feeling that his patience was running out. The last time Kaiba chewed him out, he looked ready to go insane. Like literally. Kaiba had seemed ready to burst out of sheer anger from working himself up into a frenzy. It had scared the blonde, to be perfectly honest.

That wasn't the only strain on their relationship right now.

The CEO was becoming more withdrawn than before. Ever since he gave Jounouchi that strange look during their bath, Kaiba had been even more reclusive than normal. It gave Jounouchi a sense of loss. In this universe, Kaiba had actually liked being around him. Now that Kaiba was acting like the distant scumbag he was in the other reality, Jounouchi realized what he had been missing. Jounouchi would do anything to get Kaiba paying attention to him again. Yet the blonde wasn't sure what caused this sudden change. The only thing Jounouchi could conclude was that Kaiba was really, really upset over the last grade.

So now here he was. If Katsuya Kaiba was so good at math, then Jounouchi would do his best to match his skills. So far, he wasn't having much luck. Jounouchi struggled to understand the complicated math book. Fatigue piled on, making it too hard to even read the instructions right now. This was hopeless.

Giving up, he decided to take a break. Jounouchi stood up and stretched. He thumbed through some other books on the shelves. He grabbed one about bugs and flipped through the pages just to look at the pictures. One portrait happened to catch his eye. Wasn't that the spider that woke him up on the day he made the wish? It certainly looked a lot like it. Apparently, it was poisonous. Its bites were known to knock someone unconscious too.

Jounouchi froze. Shit. He had a poisonous spider in his room from the other reality. It looked like he could add that to the increasing list of perks to being a Kaiba brother. There was no way something like that could sneak through the mansion when Kaiba paid to keep the place clean and safe. In this reality, Jounouchi had someone competent looking out for him.

Maybe, just maybe, Jounouchi could keep this wish...

A text message from his phone pried him away from his thoughts. It was from Anzu.

 _I saw Yugi heading to the arcade with some weird looking guys_

As Jounouchi read this, his heart rose to his throat. Another message immediately followed the first.

 _I tried looking for them but they disappeared. I need help finding them._

Jounouchi typed out a response.

 _be there as fast as i can. hold on, anzu. ill help yu find him_

With that, the blonde escaped the room, leaving his mountain of homework behind him. He would deal with Kaiba's wrath later. Jounouchi rushed down the steps, but someone came in front, effectively blocking his path.

It was the English speaking guard. The man stretched out his palm as a silent warning for Jounouchi to halt. He said something that Jounouchi had no hope to understand. The only word Jounouchi could make out was 'stay.'

Crap, Kaiba had been serious about not letting him out. What was Jounouchi going to do now? Jounouchi used everything he learned at school to try and communicate with this guy.

"Where...brother?"

Hopefully the guard understood that, right? The guard shook his head.

"Imasen," he muttered in a thick accent. It turned out he knew about as much Japanese as Jounouchi knew English. Still, Jounouchi got the gist of what he was saying.

If Kaiba really wasn't here, then Jounouchi couldn't ask for permission to leave. But he couldn't just let those creeps get their hands on Yugi either.

Jounouchi tried to side step him. However, the guard made sure his body remained between the blonde and the door. Despite the language barrier, his intentions were very clear.

The blonde raised a fist. The guard continued to stare him down, his eyes warning him what would happen if he resorted to violence. Jounouchi had never been able to beat these guys in a fight before.

Cursing to himself, Jounouchi gave up and stomped back upstairs. He had thought Kaiba's over protectiveness was charming before. But not now. Not if it could end up getting Yugi hurt.

"Ni-san? Aren't you supposed to be studying? Oni-san will be really angry if he finds out," Mokuba appeared in the hallway just as Jounouchi was walking through it.

Jounouchi didn't say anything. Mokuba took in his expression with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

The blonde just shook his head. Really, there was nothing he could do right now. The hopelessness of his situation sunk into his skull. He almost wanted to scream. Jounouchi thought about Yugi bruised and beaten up. And Jounouchi was unable to prevent that from happening.

He leaned against the wall, "It's just...I'm sick of it, kid."

He touched his nose. It was starting to heal up. Mokuba tilted his head as a sign of confusion.

"Sick of what?"

Jounouchi didn't know why he was letting Mokuba play therapist with him. Maybe his worry for his friends was making him act out irrationally. Whatever the reason, Jounouchi found himself spilling his guts out in front of this child.

"Ni-san keeping me from doing what I need to do. I gotta get out of here, Mokuba. I know I messed up before. I get that. But Kai-I mean ni-san should know that trapping me here isn't going to solve anything."

The black haired child nodded. He gave Jounouchi an understanding smile.

"I know. He really is overprotective sometimes. It drives me nuts too."

Jounouchi forced a grin, but it was a bitter one. Yugi was probably getting beaten up right now. And Anzu was probably waited in vain for Jounouchi to show up and help her.

There was no way the two would stay friends with him after this.

A mischievous glint suddenly crossed Mokuba's eyes. He leaned forward to whisper to the other male.

"You know. I know a secret, ni-san. Oni-san doesn't know that I know either."

Jounouchi's ears perked up. What was Mokuba getting at? The kid grabbed his wrist and led him down the steps into the bathhouse. Jounouchi retrieved his arm and glared Mokuba's way.

"Kid, I don't want a bath."

Mokuba shot him a look.

"That's not what I meant. There's a secret passage here."

"Um...what?" Jounouchi couldn't believe his ears. The Kaiba mansion had secret passages? What was this? Batman's house?

But Mokuba managed to dispel Jounouchi's doubts when he lifted up a certain fake rock. He pressed a button that was hidden underneath, and then a door swung open. The door had been impossible to see, looking like the rest of the wall until the button was activated. Jounouchi saw steps going up to what looked like the outside.

Mokuba smirked.

"Neat, huh? You know how oni-san does things without even us knowing? I found out that he made a bunch of secret passageways in this house. I just happened to find this one. It goes right outside. Past the gate even."

"You serious!" Jounouchi grinned for real this time.

Mokuba nodded, returning the smile with full force. He was obviously proud of himself for making his brother so happy.

"Yep. I know you really want to go outside, ni-san. So I'll show you this. But if oni-san finds out, don't rat me out."

Jounouchi ruffled through Mokuba's thick black locks of hair.

"You're the best, kiddo."

Mokuba shoved the hand away, looking a little miffed at being treated like a child. Jounouchi didn't wait for him to respond. He had a friend to save.

The blonde rushed outside. He made it to the arcade in record time. Anzu was outside the building, looking around frantically for him. Relief showing on her face, she pointed to a door that stood between the arcade and another building.

"They went in there. The door's locked."

It looked like a small storage shed. Jounouchi leaned his head in to listen. Was that...grunting he heard?

A punch. Jounouchi definitely knew he heard that. It wasn't a sound Jounouchi could easily mistake for anything else. He pounded his fists at the door.

"Yugi? What's going on in there?" he cried out.

He heard Yugi's voice grunting in pain. Then-

"Stay out of this, dweeb," someone else shouted from inside.

That voice. Why did it sound so familiar? And why couldn't Jounouchi pinpoint exactly where he had heard it?

Jounouchi struggled to get the door opened. He heard a few more punches making contacting with something, then he heard Yugi gasping in pain.

"Help, Katsuya!" cried the small teen from behind the door.

That set the blonde in motion. Jounouchi tacked the door until it burst off his hinges. Jounouchi found himself face to face with none other than Ushio.

Jounouchi couldn't believe what he was seeing. This was the bully who had forced himself to become Yugi's body guard so that he could milk him for cash. He even beat up Jounouchi and Honda without Yugi's consent, then had expected Yugi to pay up for a job well done.

But Yami had taken care of this bully...

Right. Duh. Yami wasn't around in this universe. Guess Jounouchi would have to handle this guy himself. Jounouchi looked at the ground to see Yugi lying on the floor. The small teen had been beaten to a bloody pulp. Jounouchi was shocked that he was even conscious.

It seemed that during his assault, Yugi's prized possession had fallen out of his bag. The pieces laid all across the floor. Jounouchi turned his attention back on the thug. He raised his fists, ready to punch the daylights out of him.

Ushio was amused, "Katsuya Kaiba. What a surprise. You're the last person I'd thought would come to little Yugi's rescue. And it looks like you've already lost a fight before. Are you sure you wanna start with me?"

Jounouchi growled, "You think my nose looks bad? Wait until I'm through with you. You won't even recognize yourself in the mirror."

Anzu rushed over to Yugi's aid. Yugi had picked himself off the ground while Anzu knelt down to his eye level. The two friends watched Jounouchi in awe. Ushio cracked his knuckles.

"Yugi here owes me some money. I was just trying to encourage him to pay up. But since you're here, maybe you're willing to settle his debt for him."

"Katsuya-kun!" Yugi cried out. It was a plea, a plea for him to leave while he could. Jounouchi stayed where he was.

Ushio chuckled, "Your brother is a very rich man, right? So 20,000 yen should be nothing for you."

Yugi was appalled, "I gave you 5000 already. It should only be 15,000 yen now."

"Quiet you," Ushio barked at the bruised teenager, "You're lucky I'm willing to let someone else pay the money you are."

"Yeah, you're such a swell guy," Jounouchi spat out sarcastically, "Too bad I ain't giving you a single yen. But I'll tell you what I will do. I'll beat the crap out of you. Then you'll apologize to Yugi and kindly fuck off."

Ushio cracked up laughing. When he was through with his laughing fit, he snapped his fingers while grinning like he thought he was badass or something.

A dozen strange looking guys came through the back door. Jounouchi hadn't realized that Ushio's lackeys were around until just now. He might've been able to take the thug one-on-one, but now Jounouchi was outnumbered. When Ushio noticed Jounouchi looking worried, his smile grew more devious.

"You should learn to keep your mouth shut, rich boy. Tell you what. I'll forgive you if you make it 30,000 yen."

"Anzu, get Yugi out of here," Jounouchi instructed.

Yugi pushed himself on his hands and knees. His purple eyes took note of the puzzle pieces in front of him.

"Well? What do you say?" Ushio asked.

Jounouchi cracked his knuckles.

"I say you're all going down."

The others surrounded him. Ushio shrugged.

"Whatever suits you, rich boy."

The fight broke out, fists coming left and right. Jounouchi managed to land a few punches. He even got to knock one guy out. But after awhile, it was becoming obvious that he wouldn't win.

Ushio's big, meaty fist connected with his healing nose. A sickening crack ensued, followed by blood splattering all over the place. It was the single most painful experience of Jounouchi's life. He cried out as the bandages slid off.

More fists came. Too many for Jounouchi to handle. Suddenly the blonde was on the floor while feet kicked him. The pain was becomming so intense that Jounouchi was losing consciousness. He saw Anzu trying to get Yugi on his feet, and Yugi was...solving the puzzle. He was solving the puzzle quickly, as if his life depended on it.

Jounouchi was just about to let darkness consume him when-

"What the hell?" Ushio barked. A blinding and familiar yellow light came from Yugi's small body. The light seemed to pierce even the darkness that was just about to take over Jounouchi, waking him up.

Yugi grew taller right before their eyes. Jounouchi smiled in relief. There he was...Yami.

Anzu backed away, unsure of what she was seeing. The other guys left Jounouchi to deal with the newcomer. Ushio seemed unnerved, but tried not to show it. His smile was quickly losing its smugness.

"Wow...Yugi. I didn't know you could do magic tricks. What did you even do to yourself? You look a little different."

Yami smirked in response. His eyes flashed red.

Jounouchi blinked. Wait...red? He looked again to make sure he wasn't seeing things through his bruised eye. Yami always had purple eyes, the same color as Yugi. But there was no doubt that right now they were red as blood.

And the smile on the spirit's face looked a little more...devious than normal.

"Tell me, Ushio," Yami began, "Are you an idiot?"

The thugs all held their breath at this. Ushio bared his teeth in sudden anger.

"What did you say, pipsqueak?"

The threat didn't scare Yami in the slightest. He nodded over to Jounouchi, hands coolly in his pockets.

"Katsuya-san is the brother of a very powerful and wealthy CEO. And all you asked for is a measly 30,000 yen. If that wasn't bad enough, you have just gravely injured him. Imagine what Kaiba will do to you all once he finds out."

Every one of Ushio's gang became afraid. Even Ushio realized his mistake. Yami grinned from ear to ear, happy to see he now had their undivided attention.

"But I am Katsuya's friend. I can not only convince him to keep you safe from his brother, but I can also get him to give you 300,000 yen. You've seen him fight for me. You should know that I can get him to do anything I wish."

What was Yami doing? Jounouchi couldn't promise any of that!

Ushio and his gang looked to be considering this. The thug leader was practically licking his lips at the thought of such cash.

"Is that so, little Yugi? Well I-"

"-However, I will not have Katsuya-san do anything until you play a game with me."

The way he said it reminded Jounouchi of those Saw movies. And suddenly, Jounouchi had a very bad feeling that might not be too far from what Yami is planning. He proposed the idea in a threatening voice.

Something was clearly different about the pharaoh. He seemed much more unhinged than normal, as if he was ready to eat all of these guys alive. It was actually kind of scary.

Ushio arched an over-sized eyebrow.

"A game? With you?"

"Duel monsters, as a matter of fact. If you win, I'll double the offer to 600,000. But if you lose, you will get nothing. And you must promise to leave us all alone from now on. You and your gang."

Ushio scratched his head. Jounouchi gulped. He couldn't give the gang that kind of money, and he believed that Yami knew it too. What was Yami's endgame here?

"I like your style, but I don't have any cards."

Yami pulled out his deck from his coat pocket.

"We can split this."

Ushio still didn't look convinced.

"I'm not exactly good at the game. It wouldn't be fair-"

"-Then we'll play on luck alone. The deck will be completely shuffled and we'll each take a card. Whoever pulls the monster with higher attack points win the round. We'll go three out of three. And if one of us draws a spell or trap card, that person loses the round automatically."

A glint sparkled through Ushio's eyes and his smirk returned. He held out his hand, silently asking Yami to hand over the cards.

"Alright. But I get to shuffle the deck."

Smirk still intact, Yami let him do just that. Ushio kept a close eye to make sure the other didn't have any weird trick up his sleeve. Jounouchi and Anzu both watched with baited breath.

Jounouchi noted the bewilderment on Anzu's face and realized that this was the first time she had ever seen the spirit. She must be struggling to understand the situation right now.

Ushio grabbed a card from the top of the deck. Yami took one as well. They flipped it.

And that was when things got super weird. Above Yami's head appeared the Winged Dragon at 1400 attack points. It was just like a hologram, only without the advance technology. The thugs backed away in fear. Ushio looked ready to wet himself. And Yami cracked up laughing.

"I thought I'd make the game more interesting if I added dark magic," he explained.

"Dark magic! What, are you a wizard or something?"

"You could say that."

Ushio obviously couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked at his card, then another monster appeared above his head. It was the Curse of Dragon at a full 2000 points.

Just like any duel with holographic fields, the monsters attacked each other. Yami's monster cried in pain as the Curse of Dragon destroyed him. Yami looked a bit annoyed, but still willing to play the game.

Meanwhile, Ushio laughed like a maniac, beaming at the dragon with pride. It seemed that one turn in and he was already power hungry at the thought of monsters obeying his will.

What was Yami doing? Jounouchi never thought him the type to take unnecessary risks. Yami only counted on luck when there was no other option. It was as if the Yami in this universe was completely different from the other.

Yami pulled out another card.

"Fine. Next round."

The monsters disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Ushio looked like he had lost something important when the dragon went away. Clearly he thought he could keep its power, for some reason, even though the cards were Yugi's.

The bully grabbed another card. But this one was a spell card: Healing Wind. A soft sigh was followed by a heavenly gust. As soon as the breeze hit Jounouchi's face, the blonde felt a million times better. His swollen eye opened up like normal, his lip was no longer bleeding, and when he touched his nose, he was shocked to feel it had been restored to normal.

Yami pulled out a Kuriboh card and smirked.

"It seems that I win this time. One last round, winner takes all."

The rest of the thugs had backed away as far as they could. The monsters had scared them to the point where Jounouchi knew they wouldn't be of any help to Ushio. Meanwhile, Jounouchi approached the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. He had dealt with actual monsters before, so it wasn't something that was going to scare him off.

He opened his mouth to speak. But Yami suddenly had his hand in front of his face, rudely cutting him off like he was a king demanding silence from his subjects.

"Stay out of the way, Katsuya-san."

He gave him a look that demanded obedience. Angered, Jounouchi was about to chew the spirit out when Ushio suddenly started laughing.

"Look-e-here. Beat this, punk."

Gaia the Fierce Knight came out. 2300 attack points. Jounouchi felt his heart froze. If he could recall correctly, there was only one card in Yugi's deck that was stronger than that.

Yami closed his eyes and pulled out his final card. He whispered something under his breath, and Jounouchi was just close enough to make it out.

"My loyal servant. Come to me. Come to me."

Then he pulled out the Dark Magician. The purple mage flew out of a cloud above Yami's head, held out his palm, and struck the knight with a magical blast. The weaker monster disintegrated into ashes.

Ushio cried out in shock. Suddenly angry, the bully grabbed the rest of the deck, holding one out threateningly.

"I'll kill you!"

Instead of being afraid, Yami grinned. Of course he wasn't worried. Those were, after all, his cards. They obeyed him, not Ushio.

The familiar Egyptian symbol appeared above his head.

"Penalty Game."

With that cry, a flash of light pierced through the room. Suddenly Ushio, along with all his goonies, starting acting strange, muttering to themselves and looking around with crazy eyes. Anzu held her mouth in shock. Yami sensed that she was too overwhelmed to react, so he grabbed her arm and led her away. Jounouchi followed the two outside.

Jounouchi closed the door, then turned around to face the spirit. But to his suprise, he was face to face with Yugi. The small teen was still holding onto Anzu's hand, but now he looked like he didn't even remember grabbing it.

"What's going on?" he asked out loud.

Anzu managed to recover enough to respond.

"How did you do all that?"

Yugi was obviously confused by the question. Jounouchi realized that she thought Yami and Yugi were the exact same person. Not surprising, since the whole gang used to think that at one point. Jounouchi thought of ways to best explain the situation when voices distracted him.

"Mr. Kaiba!"

"Mr. Kaiba. Where are you?"

Jounouchi hid behind Anzu. Fortunately, the body guards hadn't spot him. They rushed passed the teenagers without a second thought. When they were out of earshot, Yugi turned to Jounouchi.

"What's going on? I don't remember anything since Ushiro...what happened?"

Jounouchi realized that his time was short. The body guards would come back. They would find him eventually. And then, Jounouchi would have no other option but to follow them back to an angry older brother.

"Sorry guys. I'll explain everything later. But I gotta get back home."

Anzu shot him an accusing look.

"You know what's going on here?"

Jounouchi began to walk away. He gave his friends one last pleading look.

"I promise I'll tell you guys what I know. Look, Yugi will be alright now. Just keep the puzzle around your neck, okay Yug? If I don't get back home soon, my brother will make sure I'll never escape again. And that will make it impossible to see you guys."

Anzu looked ready to argue. However, Yugi stopped her before she could begin.

"O...okay, Katsuya-san. We'll be waiting."

Yugi was just as confused as Anzu, but he was willing to let Jounouchi go for now. It seemed that he caught onto the sense of urgency that the blonde had.

Jounouchi gave him a grateful smile. Then he turned around and ran as fast as he could back to the Kaiba mansion. He managed to return the way he came. Mokuba had kept the secret door opened for him.

Hopefully no one noticed.

Jounouchi pressed the button to close the passageway, then put the rock back in place. He let out a sigh. No one would ever know he was gone. If the guards from before asked where he was, he could make something up. Mokuba would vouch for him.

He was almost back to the library when Kaiba suddenly came upon him. The CEO had been in a rush. Relief flooded on his face when he saw Jounouchi, but the expression quickly turned to shock.

"Your nose..."

Jounouchi grabbed his nose without a thought. Kaiba shook his head.

"I suppose the doctor's medicine worked faster than I had imagined."

Jounouchi was grateful that Kaiba came up with a rational explanation to tell himself. Jounouchi certainly didn't feel like trying to talk to the skeptic about magic again. Suddenly, Kaiba looked very angry.

"But enough talk about that. Explain."

Jounouchi blinked.

"Explain what?"

"Where you've been," Kaiba said as-a-matter-of-factly, "I was just about going to have every available person looking for you."

"I was using the bathroom. And I wasn't gone that long. Besides, it's a big house. You shouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find me right away."

But Kaiba saw through Jounouchi's lies. Icy blue orbs narrowed in ever increasing rage.

"I know you weren't home."

Jounouchi was unnerved by how confidently the brunette was in his accusations.

"You...you can't prove that. I'm telling you, I was just taking a break from studying."

"Katsuya. Tell me where you really were. Tell me the truth, and I won't be angry."

How did Kaiba know he was gone? Was Jounouchi really out that long? Or did Kaiba have some other means of keeping track of his brothers?

Jounouchi knew he couldn't tell the truth. Not if he wanted to help Yugi and Anzu when they needed him.

He shook his head, trying to look innocent.

"I was just using the bathroom."

Kaiba gave him a sharp look. Jounouchi glowered right back. The CEO let out a sigh.

"Very well."

Jounouchi felt a bubble of hope stir in his chest. Had he manage to convince Kaiba after all? Suddenly, the English speaking guard appeared. Kaiba turned his head back toward Jounouchi.

"I hope you like hanging around with Smith, Katsuya. Because from now on, he's going to be watching you very closely. I might not be able to keep an eye on you 24/7, but that's what he's for."

He left the bewildered blonde alone with the guard. When Smith looked at him, Jounouchi realized that he was going to start really hating this guy.

* * *

 **A/N: I'd thought I'd finally get off my butt and start responding to a few of these wonderful reviews you guys give me. Also, I apologize that this chapter doesn't have much of Kaiba in it. I felt the need to get Yami into this universe. But I promise the next chapter will focus more on Kaiba's and Jounouchi's relationship. That is why we're here, after all.**

 **Lykan Youko: My heart fluttered when I read this comment. I'm glad you enjoy my fic this much. I'll try to update as frequently as I can. I'm having a lot of fun writing this story.**

 **jesakura: Here we are. Yugi finished his puzzle. But now the question is, what is he going to do about it? Yami's a little different in this universe.**

 **Celestialock: Really? My fic was the first you've commented on? I'm really honored to hear that. ^_^ I know, I'm evil with cliffhangers. I'm going to make sure the next chapter focuses more on Kaiba and Jounouchi. I just needed to establish Yami's place in this universe.**

 **Decipher Philosophy: Yes, even in this universe, Kaiba's having strange feelings for Jounouchi. But hell if he'll ever admit it. I hope life is treating you well too.**


	9. Chapter 9

This homework was going to be the death of him one day, Jounouchi could tell. The blonde had an image in his head of himself shoveling through thousand of pages of math, and then just dropping dead on the floor, with little x's where his eyes should've been. Jounouchi chuckled at the thought.

But seriously, screw this homework.

Kaiba suddenly entered through the door. He seemed pleased to see the blonde hard at work.

"I see you're getting a lot done. Let me check your answers."

The brunette sat down and snatched the paper Jounouchi had been working on. Jounouchi looked at him.

"Um...ni-san? When is Smith going to stop stalking me?"

The bodyguard wasn't in the room, but he was just outside, waiting on Jounouchi like a tiger waiting for a lamb to come out and play. Kaiba didn't take his eyes off the paper when he replied.

"When you start behaving properly like you know you should. So far, you're not showing promising results."

Kaiba placed the paper on the table and then proceeded to point out some finished problems.

"Do these again, but right this time."

Jounouchi raised his eyebrows to the roof.

"All of those are wrong? I thought I was doing what the book told me."

With a sigh, Kaiba grabbed the nearest pencil. It took Jounouchi a second for him to realize what he was scribbling down. They were sample problems that Kaiba must've thought at the top of his head. Then the CEO started solving them on his own, slowly and with purpose.

"See, Katsuya? You do this first."

Jounouchi was in awe. Kaiba must've been the busiest teenager in Japan, yet here he was, offering to tutor his brother at the expense of his own precious time. The brunette handed him the pencil.

"Now you try it on this one."

Kaiba fully believed that Jounouchi could already do all this. Yet he was still taking the effort to help him out any way he could. Jounouchi was touched by how good a brother Kaiba was, so Jounouchi resolved to do the best he could at math.

An hour or so passes with the two going back and forward. After a while, Jounouchi realized he could actually do some of this. Confidence soared in his chest like a baby bird taking flight for the first time.

"You're a good teach, ni-san."

Kaiba gave him a knowing look and a smile.

"Of course, Katsuya. Anything for you."

He sounded happy, but the slightest bit annoyed as well. Jounouchi wondered if now would be a good time to ask. He decided that he had nothing to lose.

"Hey ni-san...I was wondering. If I make a real good grade on this next math test, will you let me go out on my own again? I want to spend time with my friends."

"You can spend time with them," Kaiba pointed out, "You'll just have to have someone with you."

"That's the thing. I don't want Smith or anyone with me. I want to be alone with my friends."

"I'm aware of that," Kaiba took in a deep breath, "You know what I want?"

 _Oh boy, here we go._

Kaiba continued on, "I want a brother who acts normal. Who doesn't act like an idiot for no reason."

"So...is that a no?" Jounouchi's heart sank.

"I didn't say that," Kaiba thought for a moment, "It will have to be at least a 95%."

Holy crap!

"That's a little extreme."

"Not for you. I know you can do it."

There would be no convincing Kaiba otherwise. Jounouchi forced himself to look at the positive side. At least he now had a chance. He had been in many hopeless looking situations before, but he had been able to pull through so far.

Just think of this as another challenge.

"Alright. Are you gonna help me study?"

Kaiba smiled at him. Suddenly, a loud yawn escaped the brunette's mouth. Jounouchi flushed at how cute he looked: so tired and human looking. Kaiba wasn't afraid to yawn in front of him.

"If that's what you want, then I'll do my best."

"Thanks, ni-san. But maybe we should stop for now? If you're not busy, you should go take a nap."

Kaiba laughed like Jounouchi just made the funniest joke in the world. Jounouchi didn't know whether to be pleased or insulted. Blue eyes twinkled in delight.

"I haven't taken a nap in years, Katsuya. And I rather not start now."

"Why not?"

Shrugging, Kaiba lazily rested his chin on his hand, while his elbow supported itself on the table. What a strange pose to see Kaiba in. The man was normally all business.

At least Kaiba was no longer avoiding him. Jounouchi's plan to work harder at math really paid off.

Kaiba inspected him with an amused smile.

"Hmm...who knows? Maybe I'm afraid you and Mokuba will run away while I'm asleep."

He cracked up laughing like he made a funny. Not knowing what else to do, Jounouchi joined him. In truth, the blonde thought it was an unnerving thing to say.

Jounouchi decided to change the subject," So hey, where is Mokuba by the way?"

"Doing his piano lessons."

"I didn't know he could...play..." Jounouchi trailed off when he realized the mistake he was about to make. But it was too late. Kaiba already looked concern.

"Katsuya-"

"Psyche! I got ya. I know our brother can tickle the ivories," _Play it cool_ , he told himself.

Kaiba's thin lips stretched to a smile that was both forced and unconvincing. Jounouchi felt his heart beating a little bit faster every second. He smiled back to hide his anxiety from the other male.

"Tell me, Katsuya. How have you been sleeping?"

Jounouchi was both relieved and confused at this sudden change in this discussion.

"Eh...fine. Why?"

"Have you been having any headaches?"

"Um...no," Jounouchi wished Kaiba would stop smiling like that.

"Do you ever feel like you have weird cravings? Like some withdrawal symptons or somthing?"

Oh, now Jounouchi understood. The blonde had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"I already told you I'm not on drugs."

Finally, the fake grin on the brunette left. A sad sigh escaped Kaiba's lips.

"I see. Forgive me, Katsuya. I've just been so worried about you lately."

"Ni-san," Jounouchi held Kaiba's gaze, intent on sinking into those blue orbs, "I'm alright."

Kaiba nodded, still not looking convinced. Jounouchi decided to pop in another question.

"Would it be alright if I invite my friends over some time?"

"You hang with those two a lot," Kaiba observed.

"Well...they are my friends."

"Friends," Kaiba looked away. Was that disgust in his voice? "I'm starting to develop a distaste for that word."

Jounouchi stared at the other in shock. Kaiba was sulking like a child that had been denied candy. Just when he thought the Kaiba in this universe was out of surprises, he pulls another. So far Kaiba had looked happy, casual and normal. And now he was looking like a child.

Was the Kaiba in this universe different than the other one? Or was Jounouchi only seeing this side because Kaiba allowed him to?

"You're not jealous are you?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Kaiba stood up. He sent Jounouchi a more convincing smile this time around, "I'm going to get myself some coffee. You're excused from homework for the rest of the day. You're doing great, Katsuya."

Jounouhi watched him leave. Kaiba had never answered his question, and for that Jounouchi was a little annoyed.

There was no denying it now. Kaiba was really controlling with both his brothers. Did Mokuba feel as suffocated as Jounouchi did right now?

Jounouchi worked out a few more problems before calling it quits. Once he put everything up, he took out his cell phone.

 _haven't got the okay from ni-san yet. dont worry. ill figure something out._

It didn't take Yugi long to respond.

 _can't you just tell me over text?_

 _i can try but its kind'ov weird. i think it will be easier to discuss it in person._

 _ok. i'll wait for you, katsuya._

 _thnx pal_

Jounouchi felt a little guilty for keeping Yugi waiting. But if he was going to explain the whole Yami thing, he needed to do it right.

As soon as Jounouchi left the library, _**he**_ was right there, waiting to follow him wherever he went. Jounouchi shot Smith a look. Smith only stared back.

Shrugging, Jounouchi decided to take a walk down the halls and stretch his legs. He did his best to ignore the footsteps right behind him. He noticed the servants scattering around more than usual. One maid came up to him.

"Sir, have you seen your brother?"

"He went to get coffee. What's wrong?"

She was already starting to leave.

"He has an unexpected guest."

Confused, Jounouchi went downstairs. There was a sad looking man pacing the floor, despite a maid trying to get him to sit down. Jounouchi noticed from his nice clothing that the guy must be here on business.

He looked at Jounouchi and his face scrunched up in anxiety.

"Oh. Hello, Mr. Kaiba."

"Hey," Jounouchi gave a friendly smile, "You alright there, buddy? You're sweating like a pig."

"Um...Since you're here, can I talk to you alone real quick?"

The man looked at the maid. She bowed slightly and left. He looked at Smith, and the worry on his face increase tenfold when Smith simply looked back, showing no signs of leaving.

"Sorry. I can't get him off my back," Jounouchi explained, "But he doesn't speak Japanese. So it will be like talking in private. What do you need?"

The man looked at Smith a little while longer. He gave up and turned back to the blonde.

"I'm sorry to dump this on you. But I was wondering, since you know your brother so well, if there's any tricks to make him say yes."

Jounouchi raised a brow.

"What do you want him to say yes to?" he asked suspiciously. He wasn't going to help this guy if all he wanted was some free money or something.

The man shrank back at Jounouchi's accusing voice. He fiddled with his hand. It seemed that he had to force himself to look at the blonde.

"I need him to give me more time to buy my company back."

Jounouchi blinked, "He bought your company?"

"Yes. I'm Itchuro Takuro. I used to own the Itchuro company. We mostly owed our revenue to small grocery stores in Domino."

Wait a minute. That sounded familiar.

It clicked in Jounouchi's mind exactly who he was talking to.

"You owned the stores that Honda's folks worked at."

Smith made a weird coughing sound. Jounouchi figured that he was getting impatient. He probably didn't want this private conversation between the two Japanese people, especially since he couldn't understand what they were saying.

Jounouchi couldn't believe his luck. He had been trying to figure out how to help Honda. And now here was a way that just literally came through the door.

"Honda? Who's that?"

Jounouchi shook his head, "Nevermind. Listen. I want to help you."

Shock flooded through the man's eyes. Then relief. Then fear, for some reason. Why was he looking like that?

Jounouchi realized that the man was looking passed him. He turned around to see Kaiba right behind him. The CEO frowned at the man.

"You should've told me you were coming."

The man gulped.

"I...I was just..."

"Let's go talk in private," Kaiba said coldly, "I hope my brother has managed to entertain you while you waited. Follow me."

As the man did so, he looked like he wanted to sink into the floor. Jounouchi realized that he would need to figure some way to help him, if he wanted to help Honda.

* * *

"Ni-san," Mokuba whined, "I'm bored."

Jounouchi had simply been lying on his bed while staring up at the ceiling. He had a lot to think about. Mokuba came in to play video games, but now he turned it off. Jounouchi sat up.

"We can kill a bodyguard, if you're bored."

Mokuba cracked up laughing.

"You shouldn't have made oni-san worry so much. I told you he was going to get crazy."

Jounouchi couldn't argue with this even if he wanted to. He had a thought. Since Mokuba spent a lot more time being Kaiba's brother, he might know some things that Jounouchi didn't.

Maybe, just maybe, he could help Jounouchi out.

"Speaking of ni-san. Do you know what he's like during work?"

Mokuba paused.

"What do you mean?" he sounded confused as to why Jounouchi would ask such a question.

The blonde searched his brain for something convincing.

"Well. I know how he's like with us. But I wonder what he's like when people are doing business with him. They always seem scared of him."

"I don't know. I guess he acts like how he does when he's mad at us," Mokuba suggested.

That wasn't helpful information. Jounouchi dared to dig deeper so that he could figure something out. He wasn't quite sure what answer he was looking for. But Jounouchi figured he would know when he found it.

"Suppose, hypothetically, I wasn't his brother. And I was just some guy pitching a business decision on him."

"...Okay?" Mokuba sounded unnerved, but at least he was listening.

"How would I keep him in a good enough mood for him to say yes?"

Mokuba fiddled with the controller and shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess talk about how much you love Duel Monsters first. That always seems to cheer him up."

Jounouchi brightened, "Like the Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

Mokuba snapped his head back, looking at Jounouchi with fear.

"You know you shouldn't talk about that."

Jounouchi was confused by this reaction. He thought Kaiba loved that card.

"Moku-"

"-He's been upset that he couldn't find the last one," Mokuba explained, "You know that you shouldn't mention it."

Oh. Now Jounouchi understood. Kaiba, fortunately, didn't know that Yugi's grandpa had the last one. So the brunette must've been losing his cool over it. Kaiba always had a weird bond with that particular card. It was as if he deemed himself the only person worthy of using it. He destroyed Yugi's grandpa's card because he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else having the card.

Before Jounouchi could ask another question, Kaiba came inside the room. He wasn't carrying his suitcase, which usually meant that he wasn't on the clock. The guy had the habit of halling that thing around even in his own house.

"Hey oni-san," Mokuba smiled, "Ni-san was just asking me about business strategies. Weird, huh?"

 _Shut it, kid._ Jounouchi thought to himself. Mokuba didn't seem to realize that he was getting dangerously close to ratting him out. If Kaiba puzzled out the reason why Jounouchi would want to ask something like that, he would get suspicious.

Kaiba gave him a friendly smile. He ruffled his hair and looked at Jounouchi as he answered.

"I'm aware that he's interested in this kind of thing now. Smith told me."

Pause. Jounouchi had a sudden bad feeling about this.

"What did he tell you exactly?"

No way did Smith tell him what Jounouchi told Itchuro. It was impossible. He couldn't speak Japanese...

...right?

"That you were talking to one of my clients. From what he said, you put him in a really good mood. It made him a lot easier to deal with, Katsuya, and for that I thank you. I knew you would be interested in this stuff soon. It's your duty as a Kaiba."

Relief flooded through Jounouchi's heart. Kaiba had no idea after all.

"What duty are you talking about?" he asked the brunette as soon as he caught his breath.

"To eventually co-own the cooperation, doofus. You know this," Kaiba chuckled as if Jounouchi was joking.

"What! But it's your company!"

Mokuba and Kaiba burst into fits of laughter. Clearly they thought this was another one of Jounouchi's comedic acts. The blonde had always liked to be the clown of the group, if only to ease the tension of the situation. His friends and he would often be in some serious stuff, so Jounouchi had took it upon himself to joke around from time to time.

But this wasn't one of his jokes. This was a legitimate question.

"It's for all of us," Kaiba turned to the youngest, "Right, Mokuba?"

The long-haired boy nodded.

Jounouchi never really thought much about his future, mostly because he never thought it would've amounted to much. He figured that after graduation, he would just look for a job, move out of his dad's place, and be independent. But the jobs he had in mind were nothing more than a clerk. If he aimed his goals especiallyhigh, he would've considered working with Duel Monsters somehow. Maybe get a job with Pegasus's company selling cards in a simple shop or something.

But that was the extent of his dreams. He never would've imagined being a co-owner for Kaiba cooperation.

Somehow, Jou wasn't even sure if he wanted it or not. A lot of money would be nice, of course. But Jounouchi just couldn't imagine himself as a business man. And why did Kaiba just assume that was what Jounouchi planned on doing with his life?

Mokuba grabbed Kaiba's hand and smiled up at him.

"Can we all go play something now? I'm bored."

"Actually, I was thinking of going out to eat tonight. We can go to that Hikori place."

Jounouchi had never heard of that restaurant, but it would appear that Mokuba had. The child nearly jumped up for joy.

"Really? That place is cool. We haven't been there in a while. Right, ni-san?"

Jounouchi faked an enthusiastic smile. He knew that he needed to act like he'd been to that place many times before.

"Sure. I...uh...like they're food."

That was convincing, right?

He looked at the two Kaiba brothers to see if they bought his bluff. But it didn't look like they were even paying attention to him right now. Mokuba had started talking to Kaiba all about his day at school, while the brunette listened with a patient smile. When Mokuba was finished, Kaiba looked at both his brothers.

"Get dressed, you two. You know how that restaurant is. We want to look our best."

Jounouchi blinked. They had to get dolled for this dinner? It must've been one fancy restaurant.

"Um...ni-san?" he said before Kaiba could leave the room, "I'm...not sure what to wear."

"The red vest. The red vest!" Mokuba exclaimed. Kaiba laughed at how enthustastic the boy was being. He looked at Jounouchi with a twinkle in his eye.

"I guess that's your answer. Get dressed. I'll meet you two downstairs in twenty minutes."

Once they were gone, Jounouchi went to his closet. It was big enough to fit a small bed inside, if he really wanted to. Kaiba certainly spared no expense for his family. Jounouchi picked out the red vest that Mokuba must've meant. It looked almost like something you would see a Chinese character wear in an anime. Bright dragon'y red with gold lining and buttons. Jounouchi blinked at it. He usually wore light blues and greens, not red.

To his surprise, when he put it on and looked in the mirror, he realized that he looked good. He found matching pants to go with it.

When he left his room, he noticed Smith right behind him. Jounouchi groaned in aggravation.

"You know I'm hanging out with my brother right now, don't you? You don't need to be watching me every step of the way."

Smith smirked at him. Jounouchi knew that the body guard was probably giving him the evil eye from underneath his sunglasses.

Suddenly Jounouchi had a thought.

"I feel sorry for your mother. Birthing such an ugly guy like you."

He inspected the guard's face, but the guard showed no signs that he understood him.

It was alright, he assured himself. Smith couldn't speak Japanese. He didn't know that Jounouchi was talking about Honda. So he couldn't tell Kaiba about it.

Everything was going to be alright. Honda was going to be alright.

Once he had assured himself of this, Jounouchi turned around and walked downstairs to where his two brothers were waiting.

* * *

 **So I had actually thought I'd finished this days ago. But the last chapter I wrote was filled with problems. Like problems related to the actual story and not just the grammar. So I scrapped it and rewrote it. Sorry it took so long. And thanks to all who have been reading this so far. It really warms my heart.**

 **Coral Q's bff : That's the best kind of Yami. Being locked away in a pyramid shaped puzzle for thousand of years probably had something to do with his sanity problem. =]**

 **Seth06: Thank you. I actually didn't intend for so many cliffhangers. I know how the story will end, but I have trouble ending the individual chapters I guess. But I'm glad to know there are some people who enjoy the cliffhangers. Thank you for reading.**

 **Celestialock : Don't worry. I think it might be a while yet before things get back to normal for Jounouchi. And yes, puppyshipping ftw.**

 **Guest: I'm so glad you liked my Kaiba. And yeah, things have been getting kind of crazy. Hopefully this chapter tones it down a bit. I need to deliver the crazy in fits and bursts. Otherwise, it will be too much. Thank you for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

The building held a certain historical theme. Jounouchi would guess it was inspired by the Edo period from the looks of the things on display. There was a large clock watch that looked so authentic, it might've actually been the real thing. There were a lot of prints on the walls as well, also looking like they've been taken care of for a long, long time. It was like each decoration was actually an artifact from days long past.

Was this a place to eat or a musuem?

The tables aligned themselves near fountains that were spewing crystal clear water. A waitress saw them come inside, and she didn't even wait a second to escort them to their seat. Jounouchi stared at the place in wonder. He couldn't imagine what their average bill must've amounted to.

Because he was too busy surveying they area, he hadn't been looking where he was going. So it was no surprise when he bumped into a waiter. The man looked older than him, but was a lot more frail and weak. The poor guy landed on his ass while Jounouchi continued to stand. The blonde had to take a moment to recover from his shock. Jounouchi almost didn't realize that the man was trembling under his gaze. Jounouchi was worried that he was hurt.

"Are you-" but before he could finish his question, Kaiba was already towering over the man.

"What's going on here? Katsuya, what happened?"

Wow. Kaiba looked really angry. But why?

Jounouchi helped the man up to his feet. He noticed Kaiba glaring at the servant, which might be way the poor guy was still trembling.

"It was my fault, ni-san. I wasn't looking where I was going," he turned to the man, "sorry."

The man said nothing. He wore an expression that told Jounouchi that he would rather be anywhere else in the world right now. Kaiba's glare soften, but his blue eyes were still frosty.

Kaiba began to walk away, "Come along, Katsuya."

Jounouchi followed him to their seats. He felt weirded out by how strangely the brunette acted. What had that been about? Did Kaiba usually lose his cool over something like that? They just bumped into each other. So why did Kaiba react like the man had a stick of dynamite?

Oh well. Jounouchi would forget about it for now. Right now, he needed some grub.

They placed their orders, or rather, Kaiba ordered for all three of them. Jounouchi wasn't in the mood to argue. He was now back to looking at everything.

"You're acting funny again, ni-san. Why are you pretending that you haven't been here a million times already?"

Mokuba's question was just the thing to snap Jounouchi back to reality. The blonde realized that both Kaiba brothers were now looking at him in concern. Crap, he was making them worry again.

"Oh...I...uh...I was just thinking about something," he lied.

Kaiba crossed his hands together. He rested his chin on them.

"What were you thinking so hard about, Katsuya?"

"Nothing important."

"I begged to differ. Please share what was on your mind."

When Jounouchi realized that the CEO wasn't going to let this go, he scrambled for a purchase. He answered with the first thought that entered his head.

"I was thinking of my friends. Can I see them tomorrow, ni-san?"

Another frown came across Kaiba's lips. There seemed to be disappointment in those blue orbs, along with something else. Something that took Jounouchi a moment to pinpoint. Was it anger or was it...No. It couldn't possibly be jealousy. Kaiba jealous of Jounouchi's friends? Had Jounouchi's initial suspicion been true after all?

"Very well. But you know that Smith will be with you, right?"

Jounouchi nodded, "Right. But when I pass the exam, I won't need him anymore. Right?"

"Of course."

Their meal arrive so quickly that Jounouchi could've sworn it had already been made ahead of time. They all had their own thing of sushi, with a side of soup, some tea and water, steak strips in sauce, and vegetables. All the food was carefully place to be both aesthetically pleasing to the eye and delicious to smell. Jounouchi mouth watered at the sight. He took a bite, and realized that the sushi was more than just ordinary rice and fish. It was the best damn food he had ever eaten in his life.

Mokuba cracked up laughing after Jounouchi inhaled the first few bites. Kaiba slammed his napkin on the table while shooting a glare at the blonde.

"I need to speak to you. Alone."

Oh man. They just arrived and Jounouchi already got himself in trouble. Now Mokuba looked guilty for laughing. Jounouchi followed Kaiba to the bathroom. A servant was there in case some rich guy lost his way to the stalls. Kaiba instructed him to leave. The attendent bowed and then left.

Kaiba crossed his arms as he prepared to give his big brother speech.

"Can't there be one day where you act normally, Katsuya? You know better than to eat with such atrocious manners."

Jounouchi kept his eyes low, feeling like he wanted to sink into the floor. He suddenly lost his appetite. How did Kaiba have the ability to make him feel so bad?

Kaiba burst into a laughing fit. This confused the other teen. Hadn't Kaiba just been upset with him?

"What are you laughing at?"

"I'm sorry," Kaiba chuckled, "It's just that you looked like a scolded puppy for a second there. It was funny! You make it hard to stay mad at you, Katsuya."

Jounouchi felt slightly relieved to learn he wasn't in trouble anymore. But once Kaiba's words registered in his skull, he shot the brunette a quick scowl.

"I'm not a dog."

"I'm sorry," Kaiba smiled. The apology caused Jounouchi to flush red. It was clear that Kaiba hadn't meant the comment as an insult. And seeing him so happy made Jounouchi's heart flutter, "No hard feelings, okay? Now can we both act like humans for the rest of the night?"

The blonde gulped. He needed to learn five star manners within the next thirty seconds, or Kaiba would get angry again.

"Uh, sure."

"Good."

Kaiba led him back to the table. This time Jounouchi waited until Mokuba began eating his meal before turning back to his own food. He paid close attention to how Mokuba held his chopsticks. Jounouchi did his best to emulate the small boy without him noticing.

His strategy seemed to work. Kaiba was no longer complaining about his table manners.

All of the sudden, a man ran to Kaiba's side. Jounouchi recognized him as one of the servants who worked in the mansion. The guy was acting like there was a fire.

"Sir. An important call-" but Jounouchi didn't hear the rest. Another strange sight took all of his attention.

Sitting across from them was the same woman from before. The woman who had showed him the scroll that made all this possible. She noticed Jounouchi's gaze, smiled at him, then went back to her soup.

Jounouchi threw his napkin down.

"What are you doing?" Mokuba whispered. Kaiba was too distracted by the servant to notice Jounouchi.

"I'll be right back, kiddo. I gotta do something real quick."

With that, the blonde got up from his chair. He practically sprinted over to her table. His eyes were wide. Was this all real? Was she just a figment of his imagination? She certainly looked solid right now.

The woman smiled again-that same soft smile as before.

"Greetings, sir. I trust you're doing well."

Jounouchi looked at her, not knowing what to say. She let him take his time. The woman who changed his entire life was eating soup like nothing was wrong.

"You're from that magic shop." That was all Jounouchi could think to say. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now there was no way she was going to take him seriously.

The woman didn't stop eating, "That is correct."

Well, at least she was listening. Jounouchi swallowed thickly. He knew he needed to be careful with his words. He wasn't entirely sure that he could trust this woman one hundred percent. And considering her power, it wouldn't be good to irk her.

He took in a breath, "I don't know if you know this. But I'm from another reality."

"Oh?" she kept her gaze at her spoon.

"I met you there. You showed me a scroll."

"The wishing scroll," she stated with no emotion.

"You let me have one wish to prove it was real. Now I'm brothers with Seto Kaiba."

Finally, she looked up at him. Somewhere underneath her stoic expression traced a tiny hint of smugness.

"That's a wonderful wish. It comes with so many benefits. Money, the unconditional love of your rival, and no worries about your past father."

She seemed to know a lot about Jounouchi's other life. Too much actually. Jounounchi didn't bother to ask how she knew this. Something told him that she wouldn't answer the question even if he asked. Besides, there was another more important manner to discuss with her.

"I need to know. If I'm here now. Does that mean Katsuya Kaiba is now living my old life?"

"Hmm...No. You're Katsuya Kaiba."

Jounouchi blinked, "Yeah but...I meant the other me."

She studied him with enough intensity that he wanted to sink into the ground.

"There is no other you."

"Then what about the other universe?" Jounouchi felt his temper rising, "The one where I'm not Kaiba's brother?"

"What about it?" she shrugged.

God, could she just tell him what he needed to know, instead of going back-and-forth like this? Jounouchi clenched his teeth. He forced himself to calm down.

"What's going on there? Are my friends doing okay in the other reality?"

She sipped at her soup once more.

"That universe is no longer you're concern. Unless you want to go back."

Her words set Jounouchi's nerves on edge.

"Can I really do that?"

She gave him another look.

"For the right price, sir. A hundred million yen."

Jounouchi felt his heart stop. She smirked at his reaction.

"A...a hundred...million..." he couldn't even stammer the rest out.

She giggled softly, angering Jounouchi in the process.

He faced her with an angry fist raised in the air. It was his way of showing his frustration.

"That's insane."

"Surely something like unlimited wishes is worth the price," she explained.

"Yeah but..." Jounouchi stared at her in wonder, "If you own that thing, couldn't you just wish for the money yourself? Why are you even selling-"

"Katsuya," a voice admonished from behind him.

Holy crap! Where did he come from?

"Eh? Ni-san?!" caught red-handed, all Jounouchi could do was move away from the woman's table. Kaiba sent her an apologetic look.

"Was my brother bothering you? I'm sorry about that."

"Not at all," she said simply, then went back to her soup.

Kaiba turned his attention back to the blonde. He didn't look angry, necessarily. But he did seem a bit annoyed with him. Kaiba motioned for him to go back to the table. Jounouchi knew better than to disobey.

As he followed Kaiba back, Jounouchi snuck a glance behind him. The woman continued to give him the slightest of smirks. Jounouchi had a feeling that he would like her even less than Smith.

* * *

"So can you start talking now? We've been waiting for days," Anzu had her no-nonsense face on, clearly upset with Jounouchi for the late explanation.

She and Yugi sat at the same library that Jounouchi had been studying in. The blonde sat across from them, while Smith stood off to the side, patiently waiting for the teenagers to finish their conversation. Jounouchi felt awkward that the guy insisted being in the same room as him. He tried to get Smith to wait outside. After all, it wasn't like Jounouchi could escape while he was trapped in here. However, Smith seemed to take a sick pleasure in tormenting Jounouchi. It seemed like Smith was only staying because he knew Jounouchi didn't want him to.

Jounouchi's friends pretended not to notice the guard. Yugi's completed puzzle was now safely around his neck. He craddled it like a prized possession. Jounouchi wondered if he and Yami had communicated yet.

"Right. So, here's what I know."

He braced himself for the best way to explain himself.

"Okay. So there's this spirit in the puzzle. He's actually a pharaoh in a past life, and he's been trapped in there until Yugi solved it. Oh, he's also Yugi's dark side, so Yugi calls him Yami. Right, buddy?"

But Yugi seemed to have trouble digesting this story. Jounouchi, refusing to let himself be dettered, continued on anyway.

"Anyway. He's a spirit, but he can take over Yugi's body with the help of the puzzle. He'll do it whenever Yugi's in trouble. Then he kicks badguys' asses with shadow powers."

"So, you mean he protects me?" Yugi smiled at the thought.

"Yep. He's a friend. We can trust him," Jounouchi insisted.

But Anzu didn't look convinced. She glanced at the puzzle with the upmost suspicion, before turning her attention back on the blonde.

"I'm glad he's protecting Yugi. But something doesn't add up. You say he's Yugi's dark side. Do you mean he's evil or something?"

Jounouchi froze. He didn't realize Anzu would take his words in that context.

"What? No. He has dark magic and stuff like that. But he's not a bad person."

"But why does he want to help Yugi?" Anzu pressed.

"Because Yugi saved him from the puzzle. Why are you so suspicious?"

Anzu tensed up at that. Yugi and Jounouchi both frowned at her. She must've realized that she was digging herself a hole, because she quickly set out to explain herself.

"I'm sorry, Yugi. I'm just worried about all of this. I saw how the spirit acted around Ushio. He really liked tormenting him, a little too much, in my opinion."

Jounouchi's eyes narrowed.

"So what? Ushio had that coming to him. He deserved it."

"That's not the point," Anzu argued, "Think about it. If the spirit was able to hurt a bunch of bullies without remorse, what's stopping him from hurting us?"

"He's a friend!" Jounouchi yelled.

"We don't know that."

After Anzu's reply, a hushed silence overcame the three teenagers. Smith seemed to be interested in their conversation, even though he had no earthly idea what they were saying. Yugi fiddled with the puzzle in his hands.

"I think we can trust him, Anzu," Yugi finally stated.

Her blue eyes went wide.

"Are you sure?"

Yugi sent her a reassuring smile.

"Well, why don't we ask him ourselves. If he came out before, he can come out now," he looked at the puzzle, "Spirit, do you wanna come out?"

"Eh. I don't think it works that way, Yug," Jounouchi scratched his head, "You guys always just switch with your minds somehow. You don't ever ask each other to take over."

This time Anzu was aiming her suspicious look Jounouchi's way.

"How do you even know all this?"

Jounouchi was caught off guard. If he told them about the alternate reality, they might think he was crazy. Or, considering the fact that Yugi had a pharaoh around his neck, they might be willing to believe anything.

Should he chance it?

The two were still waiting for an answer. Jounouchi was too afraid to tell them. What if they had the same response as Kaiba did? He should wait until he knew for certain how they would take the news.

"Um...let's just say that I've...been around."

Anzu's suspicious look turned to a full on glare. She leaned her head closer, causing Jounouchi to snap his head back.

"Why are you being so discreet? Are you really our friend? Or can we even trust you?"

"Anzu, stop," Yugi said.

The girl gave a start, looking at the smaller teen with a confused and hurt look. Yugi took in a sharp breath.

"Katsuya helped us when Ushio was hurting me. I know we can trust him. I don't know why he won't tell us how he knows about the puzzle," Yugi looked at Jounouchi as he said this, "But it must be for a good reason. But there's more questions I want to ask you, Katsuya."

Jounouchi nodded for Yugi to continue. The tri-haired teen took in a deep breath.

"Okay. So, you know that he's a pharoah. Can you tell me his name? Also, how are we related to each other? You say he's my dark side, but what does that mean? If he's dark, does that mean I'm some sort of lighter half? Do we have the exact same soul, or do we have two seperate souls that are closely linked? How can I talk to him? Is he really okay with sharing a body with me? That's got to be hard. Does he like games like I do? Is there a way I can help him? I don't want him solving all my problems and me not doing anything for him. Should I-"

"-Woah woah, Yug! I can't remember all of those questions. So asked them one at a time, will ya?"

"Oh," Yugi blushed red, "Sorry."

Jounouchi thought back to the one question that stuck in his mind.

"It's funny you should ask about his name, though. There's a whole novel length story about that, bud. You see. He doesn't remember it. Since he's so disconnected from his past, he can't go back."

Yugi seemed to grip the puzzle a little bit tighter.

"Go back where?"

"To his own time period. There's a way we can get him back that involves some Ceremonial Duel or something. Anyway, he crosses the afterlife by using his name as a password or something. I don't know the entire details."

"Wait wait wait," Anzu held out her hand in a stopping motion. She gave him the most aggravated look that she can muster, "When did any of this happen? Is it something that's going to happen, or did it already happen? You're not making sense."

Jounouchi bit his bottom lip.

"Uh well-" but he was cut off by none other than Yugi.

"You're saying that once he knows his name, he'll be able to leave?" Yugi sounded heartbroken all over again.

Jounouchi tried to send him a reassuring smile.

"Um. Well it's more complicated than that."

He was about to explain when he was interrupted for a third time. But it wasn't by Anzu, Yugi, or even Smith. It was none other than the Millinium Puzzle. Smith nearly dropped to the floor in shock when he saw the small teen transform into a bigger version of himself. The guard's sunglasses fall from his face.

Then, quite suddenly, Smith ran out the door. Jounouchi didn't know whether to be more shocked about that or about the fact that Yami had decided to take over. All the blonde could do was sit in his seat with a dumbfounded expression.

Yami's eyes were still red, not purple, and his expression was darker than normal. He sent a glare that was chilling enough to freeze Jounouchi on the spot.

Anzu had hopped out of her chair in order to rush over to Jounouchi's side. It seemed she didn't want to be sitting next to someone she obviously didn't trust. Although there was fear in her eyes, she managed a glare of her own.

"What are you doing here? Where's Yugi?" she demanded the newcomer.

"My other self is safely sleeping in the puzzle," Yami stated as if he was talking about nothing more than the weather. He took her glare in stride, coolly crossing one leg over the other.

Jounouchi didn't like how Yami was looking at him. He half expected the symbol to appear on Yami's forehead, so that Yami could mindcrush him.

Jounouchi forced himself to calm down. Yami was a friend, he assured himself.

"Hey, buddy. Now that you're here. You mind telling Anzu how you would never hurt Yugi?"

"Of course," Yami crossed his arms, "Yugi is the other half of my soul. His pain multiplies mine by a thousand. I would never dream of touching a hair on his head."

"See, Anzu? Now, Yami. Can you tell her how you won't go hurting us either? Or any of Yugi's other friends?"

But this time his response was met with unnerving silence. Jounouchi blinked.

"Um? Yam?"

Jounouchi felt Anzu gripped at his shoulder, clearly nervous about the newcomer.

The spirit's lips spread into a sinister smile.

"I'm afraid I cannot guarentee the same protection for just anyone. Yugi is special to me. You two have yet to prove yourselves."

"Prove ourselves? Why do we need to prove ourselves just to make sure you don't hurt us?" Anzu asked angrily. Meanwhile Jounouchi had lost his voice. What was going on with Yami?

"I'm not so much worried about you as him," Yami looked at the blonde, "I don't know if I can trust you."

"What? But Yam. I thought we were friends," Jounouchi choked out.

"I hardly know you," Yami frowned.

The blonde didn't know what to say to that. Yami held up a finger.

"Give me one reason not to trust you, Katsuya Kaiba, and your mind will go to the shadows. I know your brother's true nature. How can I trust you're not the same way, knowing that you are of the same blood? If I suspect that you're out to hurt Yugi, I will dispose of you like the trash you are."

Jounouchi stared at him with wide eyes. With a smirk, Yami closed his eyes. He had said his piece.

"I will return Yugi to you two now. Take care of him."

The puzzle shined once more and Yugi blinked at them. He looked to have no idea what just happened. Anzu cautiously approached him with a hand over her heart.

"Are you okay, Yugi?"

Yugi looked at her, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? And why are you and Katsuya-san looking so scared?"

The other two exchanged awkward glances. Kaiba suddenly threw opened the door. Smith was following him like a lap dog.

Kaiba was clearly angry, causing all three teens to stand from their seats. The CEO reserved his glare for Anzu and Yugi.

"I was told that you are playing tricks on my brother."

The guests, as well as Jounouchi, were shocked at the accusation.

Kaiba pointed an accussing finger at Yugi.

"I knew there was a reason my brother was getting confused. Admit it. You've been playing tricks with his mind, haven't you?"

"Ni-san! What are you talking about? Yugi didn't do anything wrong?"

Kaiba shot him a look. He turned to Smith and said something in English. The only word Jounouchi could pick up was 'room.'

Smith grabbed Jounouchi by the shoulder. He proceeded to drag the blonde a way, but Jounouchi wouldn't do without a fight.

"Hey! Let go of me."

"He's taking you to your room. I'll have a talk with your 'friends.'"

Had Kaiba lost his mind? What happened to treating the guests with manners? Kaiba used to at least pretend to be a decent host.

Smith had already got him out of the room. Jounouchi felt little more than a fish caught in a tiger's mouth. His struggling had about the same effect as that.

He yelled curses all the way to his room.

* * *

A knock on his door before Kaiba entered. He no longer had on his business coat, showing off his nice white dress shirt underneath. The suitcase was still in his hand, however.

"Katsuya. Are you finished pouting?"

Jounouchi said nothing. He kept his eyes glued to the television. He wasn't even paying attention to the show that was on. He didn't care. As long as he could pay attention to something other than Kaiba.

Kaiba had thrown Anzu and Yugi out like garbage. There had been countless times when Jounouchi was upset with him. But somehow, the Kaiba in this reality made him even angrier than the last one. So far Kaiba had ruined Honda's life, and now he was making it impossible to keep the friends he did make.

So yeah. He was angry with Kaiba. Actually. Angry didn't even begin to describe it.

He heard Kaiba shift behind him. Suddenly the brunette sat down on the floor right behind him.

"Still at it then? Fine. Maybe this tidbit of news will make you talk. I've decided to get you a doctor."

Jounouchi tore his eyes away from the screen.

"Doctor? I'm not sick. What do I need a doctor for?"

Kaiba was suddenly very close, his face just inches from Jounouchi's own. Jounouchi's mouth went dry. It looked like Kaiba was searching something in his eyes.

"You need someone to talk to."

Jounouchi felt a stab of anger once more. No amount of pleasurable arousal was going to appease him.

"You're getting me a shrink."

"I'm getting you help. I don't know what that Muto kid did to you. But I have a feeling that you need more help than I can provide myself."

"But I've been acting alright!" Jounouchi exclaimed, "I've kept my weirdness to a minimum. Why do you still think I'm crazy?"

"Katsuya, I've known for quite some time that you haven't been yourself," Kaiba closed his eyes and sighed. Then he opened them again, "Something will set you off and make you spout off nonsense. Like when we were having dinner with those two losers, you talked about a ghost playing card games. Or when we were arguing the other day, you brought up alternate realities. You even said we weren't brothers. Did you expect me to just forget you said all that?"

Jounouchi realized that the brunette was serious about this. His anger turned into stone cold fear. He didn't want to see a shrink. He didn't want to be forced to tell some stranger all of his secrets, and then have the guy prescribe him drugs that Jounouchi couldn't pronounce, let alone understand.

It was scary to think about.

"Please ni-san. I'm not crazy. What can I do to make you believe that?"

Kaiba sent him a reassuring smile. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around Jounouchi's torso and pulled him in an embrace. Jounouchi gasped in shock.

Kaiba craddled him like he was Mokuba's age. This was clearly a brotherly hug. And yet Jounouchi couldn't help but hope there was more to it than that.

Of course, there wasn't. Not as long as Kaiba saw him as a little brother to take care of.

"I'm just worried about you is all. Can't you do this? For me?"

Despite his earlier anger, Jounouchi felt himself warming into Kaiba's arms. It seemed that Kaiba had found just the strategy to turn him putty into his hands.

"Okay."

Jounouchi would hate himself later. Right now, he would allow himself to be hugged by the man he had always adored. The same man who hated him in the other universe.

* * *

cuddlekinz0 : **Here you go! Some brotherly fluff for you. Got ya covered, fam. Although Jou still has to deal with an overprotective Kaiba. Life's a pain sometimes. Thank you for your review.**

Celestialock : **I admit. The chapters have been getting harder to write. So I might not upload quite as frequently. Sorry about that. I just want to make sure I keep good quality for the chapters. Thank you for your review.**

Gurkenlimo: **Yeah. I intend it to be yet another obstacle in the pairing's way. If they're brothers, they shouldn't be a couple, right? So, it will make Jou want to go back to his own reality even more. But more obstacles are going to come his way. Thank you for the review.**


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